An Electronic Cane with a Haptic Interface for Mobility Tasks

There are numerous electronic solutions to help visually impaired in mobility tasks in everyday life. Although many of these systems correctly detect obstacles and locate services, thus improving the life of visually impaired people, generally the information provided by these systems is codified arbitrarily, thus requiring a learning phase and therefore discourages their use. This paper proposes an haptic approach to provide information about the presence of obstacles along the walking path that can be easily understood by the users. The aim of the proposed system is to reproduce the feeling provided by a traditional white cane, but using a short cane equipped with a smart system of sensors and actuators.