Low Cost Smart Navigation System for the Blind

One of the major problems faced by visually impaired people is navigating from one place to another. Commercially available walking canes only serve as obstacledetectors for these people. The need for an economical guidance and navigation system for the blind is long overdue. Existing solutions are highly cost-ineffective, rendering them available only to people on the higher end of the economic strata. A cheap and affordable piece of technology can help the blind commute to their workplace instead of relying on help from random strangers to even commute walkable distances. In this paper, we propose a design for a walking stick to help the visually impaired commute to their livelihood. The proposed solution works on the Internet of Things realm wherein the blind can “communicate” with the environment. This prototype is equipped with an ESP8266, a power source for the development board and coin motors along with a smartphone application, thereby making it accessible for even the working class visually impaired.