User:Ausion/sandbox

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InnovationHub Technologies, headquartered in Bangalore, India was founded in 2013 with a focus towards utilizing technology to Enhance the Quality of Living for the Visually impaired. The company has created its first product - a mobility aid called AUSION ( viSION through AUdio ) that is available in India.

History

InnovationHub Technologies was founded by Vinod Deshmukh and Padmanabhan SN, veterans in the Technology Industry. A passion to build technology based solutions to assist people with disabilities was the main driver behind this venture. The company focuses on creating solutions in the area of Mobility and Orientation, particularly for the visually impaired.

Mobility Aids for visually impaired

A mobility aid is an instrument that is designed to assist walking or improve the mobility of people with impairments. Multiple aids are available today specifically designed to address the visually impaired.

Several Universities, Researchers and entrepreneurs across the world have invested many years of research to design mobility and orientation aids for people with Visual impairments. Many apps are available today on smartphone platforms to provide different degrees of assistance.

The main purpose behind these mobility aids are

• Safety - creating a safe path for them to move
• Independence
• To utilize Technology and provide better information about the environment.
• Productivity and participation in normal community life.

The degree of acceptance of any mobility aid depends on multiple factors like device cost, availability of local training, ease of usage, simplicity of the feedback given, ability to use in all (or most) normal situations encountered in daily life and the ability to be used in both indoor and outdoor environments.

White cane

The white cane has been the defacto mobility aid available for over 50 years by the visually impaired and is used widely in the world. The white cane gives feedback via tactile means. The various sounds that the cane makes when it is tapped on the ground gives different kinds of feedback to the user. Users can get a feel for the kind of terrain, the surface, the level and texture of the ground on which they are walking on. Mobility instructors train people for a period of upto 6 months to get familiar with the aid and to ensure they get through regular operations of life (walking, getting to a store, going to work etc). With proper training, people can identify the texture of the surface, if the surface is wet or dry and most obstacles at ground level.

The two point touch technique is taught during mobility training - this involves the blind person to tap the cane at two points in front of them to get a tactile feel of the environment. Since the sweeping (or two point touch technique) is done at the ground level, low overhanging branches or other objects that obstruct at the head level cannot be detected by the white cane. Parked cars and other vehicles can be detected if they have a profile at the ground level. Several trucks have a chassis that are at the head/chest level and the wheels are generally about 6-10 feet inside the body. Such obstacles may be tough to detect with the white cane. In these circumstances, there is a possibility of the blind person bumping into the object and causing injuries.

Electronic mobility aids

In recent years, there have been several electronic mobility aids which attempt to give more information to the user. Eg: Distance to the obstacle, direction of the obstacle with reference to the user (Left, Right or Straight ahead) and also at what level (foot level, chest level or the head/neck region). Several technologies have been used to provide better visual mobility aids with varying adoption rates. (Laser, Ultrasound, Infrared).

An electronic mobility aid typically consists of these components

• Technology to detect an object
• Identification of the position with respect to the user (Left, right, bottom, top)
• A Signal Processing Engine that converts the distance information to some form of feedback that is useful
• An User Interface allowing certain settings to be customised

Object Detection

The utilisation of Ultrasound waves is a common technology for detection of obstacles in several such devices. The device usually consists of one or more Ultrasound transmitters which send out the Ultrasound waves at a specific frequency. Some devices send in a single frequency (typically around 40KHz) and others send in multiple frequencies (varying from 25KHz to 65KHz). These frequencies are well beyond the hearing range of humans - humans can hear sounds till about 10KHz.

Since Ultrasound waves are actually sound waves with higher frequencies, these waves follows the law of reflection. The waves are transmitted from the device, hit objects in the front and bounce back to the Receiver. The reflected waves can interfere with incident waves, producing patterns of constructive and destructive interference. There are small changes in the phase of the reflected signal - the amount of phase change depends on the material of the reflecting surface, the distance and how much absorption happens by the material. Depending on the phase change in the wave, the device is able to compute the distance to the object. Thus, such sensors can very accurately determine the distance (accuracy within 1cm) and gives the appropriate feedback to the user (via vibrations, haptic means or sound).

Range

Typical Ultrasound sensors have a range of up to 5 meters (15 feet). However, as the distance increases, there are larger chances of wave scattering and feedback can tend to become unreliable. Thus, in practice, it is best to limit the range to about 3m (9 feet).

AUSION is one such electronic mobility aid that uses the Echolocation principle to detect objects in front of the user. AUSION uses Ultrasound technology to detect obstacles and determine how distant the user is from the obstacle. The device electronics converts the distance information to unique sound patterns that alerts the user about the presence of an obstacle. Ausion can be programmed to detect objects in 3 ranges - 1m, 2m and 3m. At normal pace that a visually impaired person, this translates to about 6-7 steps of advance warning about the obstacles, thus allowing sufficient time to take evasive action and move to a safe path.

Feedback to the user

Once the obstacle is detected, devices use a varied set of technologies to give feedback to the user. Vibration, Haptic feedback and sound are generally used. AUSION converts distance information to unique sound notes (similar to the notes heard in a piano). The highest pitch is utilised to let the user know about an obstacle very close to him. The pitch gradually reduces as the distance to the obstacle decreases. The Human Ear is a very sensitive organ and can distinguish minute pressure variations and also small changes in the sound patterns. Visually impaired people have ears that are even more sensitive. They can quickly and accurately determine various sounds in their environment and take the necessary action.

At the normal pace of walking, a visually impaired person can cover one meter in about 1 - 1.5 seconds. Feedback via sounds has the advantage that it can be given near-instantaneously (in the order of 1/8th - 1/10th of a second). Other feedback mechanisms like vibration need a lot more time (in the order of about 1/3rd - 1/4th of a second) - this means that sufficient advance warning is not provided to the user to take evasive action when an obstacle is encountered.

An example: If a user is approaching a brick wall about 10 feet away, AUSION starts off by giving a low note as a feedback. As the user continues to go closer, the pitch gradually increases. In the final meter closest to the object, the pitch is highest - thus intuitively giving a warning indication of an impending crash into the object. By going through the appropriate training programs and by learning the musical feedback notes, users can train themselves to quickly recognise the distance to an obstacle.

Challenges of Electronic mobility aids

In theory, electronic devices with sensors can detect all objects in the specified range. But, alerting the user about all such objects will make it confusing, and worse - can be disorienting too. Hence, designers have to make very careful choices about making it easy for the user and yet be accurate.

Certain sensors can give wrong/incorrect feedback even when an object is not present. Eg: False-positive is a condition when any obstacle is not present, but the device detects that something is present. Due to several variables involved during sensor manufacturing, there are cases when the sensors can give incorrect readings. Designers have to understand the sensor characteristics carefully and filter out all such false positives. If cases that tend to give such false positives are not handled well, users will not trust the feedback given.

Since sensors will have to be exposed to the elements, handling rain, snow and other weather related conditions is a challenge. While devices can handle light rain, heavy rain or a sustained water inlet to the sensor can inhibit normal operations or even lead to permanent damage of the sensor elements.

People across the world have been used to observing visually impaired people using a White cane or a guide dog as primary mobility aids. When mobility aids become smaller and more discreet, it may be challenging to the general public to recognise visually impaired people in public settings.

Device history and distribution

AUSION was developed with extensive user interactions and discussions with National Association of Blind (NAB, Jeevanbhima Nagar, Bengaluru). The devices have been distributed with the help of Samarthanam trust and enormous support from the Rotary Club of Bangalore, North District.

AUSION is a compact, handheld, maneuverable and non-intrusive device weighing about 95 grams and can be easily carried in the pocket. AUSION detects overhanging obstacles at the chest, shoulder and head levels and thus offers a greater freedom of movement to the user.

Less than 10% of the visually impaired in India use any kind of mobility device (white cane), primarily because it advertises to the others that the user is a blind or visually impaired person. Due to this potential social stigma, many thousands of people do not use any kind of mobility aid. This became a primary requirement of moving away from the cane and AUSION was created as a very compact device that can easily be carried by the user discreetly, allowing them to participate in normal social activities.

1. Company website [1]

2. Bangalore Mirror, “THE SEEING EYE”, June 1, 2015 The Seeing-Eye device

3. MOTHERBOARD, “This Handheld Device Will Help The Blind Echolocate”, July 20, 2015 This device will help the blind echolocate

4. Tech Times, “This Small Device Will Help Blind People Echolocate”, July 20, 2015 Small device will help the blind to echolocate

5. Deccan Herald, “IITans Invent Aid Kit For The Visually Impaired”, September 26,2015 IITians invent mobility aid for the visually impaired

6. Jet Wings, “AUSION”, October 2015 JetWings article

7. Deccan Herald, “Mobility device for visually impaired”, December 2015 Mobility Aid for the visually impaired

8. New Indian Express, “Travel Aid Device for Visually Impaired Launched”, December 2015 Mobility aid launched

9. Rotary News, “Audio Vision – Made In India”, May 2016 Rotary News India - Mobility aid for the visually impaired