MIT News – “Computer scientists have been working for decades on automatic navigation systems to aid the visually impaired, but it’s been difficult to come up with anything as reliable and easy to use as the white cane, the type of metal-tipped cane that visually impaired people frequently use to identify clear walking paths. White canes have a few drawbacks, however. One is that the obstacles they come in contact with are sometimes other people. Another is that they can’t identify certain types of objects, such as tables or chairs, or determine whether a chair is already occupied. Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new system that uses a 3-D camera, a belt with separately controllable vibrational motors distributed around it, and an electronically reconfigurable Braille interface to give visually impaired users more information about their environments. The system could be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to a cane. In a paper they’re presenting this week at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the researchers describe the system and a series of usability studies they conducted with visually impaired volunteers.”

• A prototype of the system is demonstrated in this MIT video via YouTube.