TYFLOS: A MOBILITY ASSISTANT FOR NAVIGATING VISUAL IMPAIRED

Some other relevant projects with navigation capabilities are: (i) In the UMD project researchers attempted to establish a sound-based system training the blind user to be familiar with the level of the pitch when the user comes closer to obstacles (higher pitch for close obstacle, low pitch for far away obstacle). The major part of this project is the training of the blind user to a variety of pitch levels that correspond to various distances from existing obstacles in the traveling space.

(ii) The UMichigan projects are two computerized devices based on advanced mobile robotics obstacle avoidance technologies. The first aid (NavBelt) is worn by the user like a belt and is equipped with an array of ultrasonic sensors. It provides acoustic signals via a set of stereo earphones, that guide the user around obstacles; or "displays" a virtual acoustic panoramic image of the traveler's surroundings. One limitation of the NavBelt is that it is exceedingly difficult for the user to comprehend the guidance signals in time to allow fast walking. The second device, (GuideCane) effectively overcomes this problem. The GuideCane uses the same mobile robotics technology as the NavBelt but it is a wheeled device pushed ahead of the user via an attached cane. When the GuideCane detects an obstacle it steers around it. The user immediately feels this steering action and can follow the GuideCane's new path easily and without any conscious effort.

(iii) The FIU project is a computer connected Eye-Gaze based human-computer interface. It receives images from the environment and uses the computer to process them.

(iv)The AIR is an experimental system for the conversion of images into sound patterns. The system was designed to provide auditory image representations within some of the known limitations of the human hearing system, possibly as a step towards the development of a vision substitution device for the blind. The application of an invertible (1-to-1) image-to-sound mapping ensures the preservation of visual information. The system implementation involves a pipelined special purpose computer connected to a standard television camera. The time-multiplexed sound representations, resulting from a real-time image-to-sound conversion, represent images up to a resolution of 64×64 pixels with 16 grey-tones per pixel. However, the actual resolution obtainable with human perception of these sound representations remains to be evaluated.

(v) The system called "Tormes" is a computer with a Braille keyboard and satellite navigation technology that gives verbal directions. This personal navigator was presented to the press in Madrid recently. The European Space Agency (ESA) was involved in this event because ONCE and ESA are already working on how to improve "Tormes". The accuracy given by GPS is not precise enough and not guaranteed. A new tool, developed by ESA could be the breakthrough: EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service). EGNOS corrects the GPS signals and gives an accuracy of 2 m while GPS provides an accuracy of only 15 to 20 m. It also warns the users of any problem with the signal thus giving integrity information. A similar project has been proposed in France that has the option to access indoor's a priori information (like room structural design) from a database.

These approaches however are not acceptable by the blind user (group discussion with blind individuals) for several reasons. The visually impaired, however, have expressed the disappointment for the sound based systems due to the continual hearing of the pitch sounds in their ears. For the UM devices their disappointment was similar due to the bulky and unsocial appearance of the devices, which will make them "targets of attention beyond their problem." Thus, the only possible and acceptable solution to them is a device of very small size attracting no attention and capable of offering them a close-to-human visual system assistance, that is why our system is different from the other projects. Our project Tyflos is intend to be an invisible system for visually impaired people. Results of our test will be presented.

Rich Simpson

Assistant Professor
Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology; University of Pittsburgh
ris20@pitt.edu
412-383-6593
Forbes Tower, Suite 5044
Sennott and Atwood Streets; Pittsburgh, PA 15260
My research interest is human-machine interaction, with an emphasis on technology for people with disabilities. One aspect of my research is the development of intelligent mobility aids that combine traditional mobility aids (manual wheelchairs, power wheelchairs, walkers) and robotics technology (sensors, processors, navigation and collision avoidance algorithms).

Advances in technology, including sensors and processors, are making it possible to develop products that dramatically increase the independence and functionality of individuals with disabilities. A key challenge for developers of technology is to create products that people want because they solve real problems.

Dan Kish

Daniel Kish is the Co-founder and Executive Director of World Access for the Blind. This non-profit organization works to help blind individuals enhance their quality of life by (a) propagating a "no limits" philosophy of personal achievement among blind persons, and (b) fostering the development and distribution of PERSON-CENTERED, PERCEPTION-BASED strategies and technologies consistent with the "no limits" philosophy. Dan holds Master's degrees in Developmental Psychology and Special Education. He holds a California state credential and national certification as an Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Dan is the first totally blind individual to obtain such certification, and has maintained employment in this capacity since 1996 as an itinerant instructor for many school districts, rehabilitation agencies, and private persons.

Dan has presented and conducted training workshops internationally in dozens of forums on all topics related to blindness. However, his main expertise lies in human echolocation. In this area he has conducted pilot research, and has completed one of the most comprehensive literature reviews of the topic detailing the nature and utility of echolocation in humans. From this research and thousands of hours of experience with blind students of all ages, Dan created the first systematic, comprehensive echolocation training curriculum, and has designed the first device to enhance sonic echolocation for day to day use. This device is called SoundFlash, and its development is generously supported by Alcon Labs Inc. and the NEC Foundation. Some of Dan's students have applied echolocation combined with other techniques to riding bicycles independently at moderate speeds through unfamiliar environments, and to participate in other complex activities such as skating, ball play, and solo wilderness travel. In addition to prolific newspaper and magazine coverage, Dan and his students have demonstrated the functionality and educational relevance of human echolocation on over a dozen national and international TV programs. Coverage includes Beyond Chance and Ripley's "Believe It or Not." Dan and a colleague have recently published a section on audition training in a textbook chapter on blindness issues. Dan expects advanced echolocation instruction to become an integral element of movement and navigation programs for blind individuals in the near future.

With support and guidance of Dr. Leslie Kay, Dan has pioneered efforts to combine sonic with ultrasonic sonar technologies and strategies to form a powerful and versatile approach to nonvisual spatial perception and control of movement. This work has been covered in various publications including "Business Week," and "Popular Science," and was featured on NBC Nightly News and a 30 minute European documentary.

Directly inspired by Dr. Steve Mann of Toronto University and Dr. Doug Baldwin of the Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation, Dan believes that artificial vision systems are on the immediate horizon. The focus of Dan's interest is to collaborate with key scientists in the creation of person- centered technologies and strategies to optimize access to the environment for blind individuals, and to infuse these developments with a sound understanding of human perception and blindness, which he feels has been historically lacking.

As a blind professional, Dan passionately demonstrates that blindness in itself need not be as limiting as has been historically assumed. He believes it is society that imposes limitations by presenting information almost exclusively to the eye. Dan asserts that the liberation of blind people depends upon the awareness that blindness bares no shame, and little intrinsic deficiency. Rather, the deficiency lies primarily in the quality of interaction between the world and the blind. Dan has dedicated himself to helping unlock the ability of blind people to oppose these limiting forces with personal assurance and strength, and to stand at last on their own merits in camaraderie and equality with sighted people. More information about the work of World Access for the Blind can be found at:

http://www.worldaccessfortheblind.org

Dan can be reached at: dankish@worldaccessfortheblind.org

Phone: (562) 673-9066

Ione Fine

Dr. Ione Fine is Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Southern California. She is currently a member of the collaborative retinal prosthesis project led by the Doheny Eye Institute and Second Sight. Dr. Fine was also the lead scientist in the group who studied our colleague Mike May after his pioneering corneal surgery. Mike had been totally blind for over forty years. The surgery restored vision to one of Mike's eyes, but left him with a unique form of low vision which provided fascinating insights into how our visual perceptions depend on experience.

Doug Baldwin

The links below will connect you with ten times more information about my life than you need or want! But it's on my web site and it's easy:

My "credentials"

My home page

Kathleen Mary Huebner

Dr. Kathleen Mary Huebner is Professor, and Associate Dean for the Graduate Studies in Vision Impairment Department for the Institute for the Visually Impaired and Co-Director of the National Center for Leadership in Visual Impairment located at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. She began working with individuals who are blind and visually impaired in the mid-sixties as the director of the music program at Sunlight House, a summer camp for adults who were blind in Situate Massachusetts. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Seton Hill University, and both her Masters and Doctorate in Special Education and Rehabilitation from the University of Pittsburgh. Her professional career in the field of blindness started in 1967 in Pittsburgh, PA at the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind. She has taught Orientation and Mobility, Sensory Training, Concept Development, Social Skills in rehabilitation centers, through community outreach, and served as a teacher of children with visual and multiple disabilities in special schools and itinerant programs in Pennsylvania and New York. She directed a teacher education program in blindness and visual impairment at the State University of New York, College of Arts and Science at Geneseo before joining the American Foundation for the Blind in New York City as a National Consultant where she later became the Director of National Program Services. She has consulted and presented in most states throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia and Canada. She has served as a director for Division 17, Personnel Preparation for AERBVI. She is widely published in professional journals and serves on many national committees and organizational advisory boards. She presently serves on the editorial boards for both the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness and the Rural Special Education Quarterly. She has over 60 publications including books and articles in peer-reviewed journals. She has served as a national co-chair for the National Agenda for the Education of Children and Youths with Visual Impairments, Including Those with Multiple Disabilities and continues to serve on the steering committee for the National Agenda. She is also Co- Chair of the International Council for the Education of People with Visual Impairments, North American Caribbean Region. She is the recipient of the 1996 AER, C. Warren Bledsoe Award and the 2004 Mary K. Bauman Award from AER. She has received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Seton Hill University.

Kathleen M. Huebner, Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Dean
Co-Director, National Center for Leadership in Vision Impairment
Graduate Studies in Vision Impairment
Pennsylvania College of Optometry
8360 Old York Road
Elkins Park, PA 19027
Phone: 215 780-1360
Fax: 215-780-1357
E-Mail: Kathyh@pco.edu
Visit our Websites at: http://www.pco.edu/acad_progs/grad/grad_prgs.htm
http://www.pco.edu/nclvi.htm
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" Martin Luther King

Vladimir Kulyukin

Director: Computer Science Assistive Technology Laboratory
Department of Computer Science
Utah State University

Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
Utah State University

Computer Science Researcher
Center for Persons with Disabilities
Utah State University

vladimir.kulyukin@usu.edu
http://www.cs.usu.edu/~vkulyukin/vkweb/research/sandee.html

My research area is assistive robotics. My research focuses on robot-assisted wayfinding for the visually impaired and cognitively disabled in dynamic and complex environments. The two aspects of this problem that I find most interesting are sensor fusion and human-robot interaction.

Joshua A. Miele, Ph.D

Research Fellow, Tactile Maps Automated Production, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute

Dr. Miele has a BA in physics and a doctorate in psychoacoustics and psychophysics from the University of California at Berkeley. His areas of research include auditory/tactile displays, spatial cognition, auditory motion perception, and tactile maps. Dr. Miele's specialty is the application of psychophysical methods to the design of accessible information systems. His resume includes significant contributions to accessible technologies such as screen readers (outSPOKEN), auditory and tactile scientific data representation utilities (Smith-Kettlewell Display Tools), and tactile map automated production software (TMAP). Dr. Miele is currently a Research Fellow at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco.

William F. Crandall, Jr. Ph.D. (Bill Crandall)

Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center
2318 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
415-345-2111
bc@ski.org
www.ski.org/Rehab/WCrandall

Background:

Bill came to The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in 1973 while pursuing his Masters degree in Physiological Psychology (University of Georgia, class of '79).

In 1981 he received a Ph.D. degree, studying oculomotor neurophysiology and vision research. His position was laboratory manager and co-investigator until late 1990. He moved to the Institute's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) where he began research in human factors utilization of disabilities access technology. He developed the department's Fax Reader Project and led the research, development and technology transfer of Smith-Kettlewell's remote infrared audible signage (Talking Signs), a system for people who have print-reading disabilities such as blindness or mental retardation. Bill has also been involved in developing and evaluating accessibility features for transaction machines and systems (including customer service).

Interests:

Human Factors research, R&D for devices and techniques in blindness accessibility, Talking Signs, Telecommunications, Electronic information systems.

Remote infrared signs allow people who are print disabled to directly know not only what, but where. Just as non-disabled people visually scan the environment to acquire both label and direction information, remote infrared signs directly orient disabled people to the labeled goal and constantly update them as to their progress to that goal. That is, unlike Braille, raised letters, or voice signs which passively label some location or give instructions to some goal, the remote signage technology developed at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (Talking SignsR) provides a repeating, directionally selective voice message which originates at the sign and is transmitted by infrared light to a hand-held receiver some distance away. The directional selectivity is a characteristic of the infrared message beam; the intensity and clarity of the message increases as the sign is "pointed at" or approached. This ensures that the people using the Talking Signs system can choose to get feedback about their relative location to the goal as they moves towards it. Talking Signs are light and small, easy to install, consume very low power, and are easy to program with human voice or synthesized voice messages. The Talking Signs studies conducted at Smith-Kettlewell have shown the system to be effective for people who are blind or have developmental delays.

Perhaps because the freedom to travel any time and to any place has always been of such high value to me personally, I have been especially sensitive to what could happen to open that ability up to more people. Therefore, my interest has increasingly come to public transportation, having spent so many years in rehabilitation engineering as relates to low vision and blindness.

List some "products" you feel could/should come out of the Congress

I would like for the group to take a sober look at what systems have been demonstrated to be usable and practical at present as distinct from those which show promise or perhaps will show promise at some future time. That is, we need not treat all wayfinding concepts as being equally valid or doable from the standpoint of enhancing people's independence. There is a great distance between an idea and development of a technical approach. And then there is a great distance between having a technical approach and a device that is usable. Then there is a great distance between having a device which is usable and one which will, from a human factors standpoint, actually be used. Therefore, the expertise of the group may best be used to help bring some reality-check and guidance as to the best way to proceed so that some of the more tentative ideas can be improved at the early stages of development.

Add concerns, suggestions, and comments; whatever you want to share

As was suggested above, I'm very concerned that in promoting new R&D, we are not adequately supporting systems that blind people need to be using on a day-to-day basis now. The public is constantly promised that in respect to everything technical, "tomorrow" or "in the future", "it" (whatever it is) will be too cheap to meter and so, while we're busy inventing and advancing the 'next new thing', blind people continue to be left in the dark.

I tell engineers bringing their 'next new thing' to Smith-Kettlewell that a useful interface is 95% of the challenge.... systems that are quick to learn and are, overall, a "no brainier" (low cognitive load) are best and may actually be used by people. There are whiz-bang devices out there (I'm not just talking about devices for blind people) that just don't get picked up because they're a pain in the butt. The Opticon is a fantastic device as it really works and is very versatile. However, the training time is years, the device is very bulky and, although it does the job incredibly well, it is slow and requires 100% attention. It is also very expensive. But it can read script handwriting or follow lines in a drawing.... a really fantastic and serious invention! Low cognitive load is a must. Every time I see someone talking on a cell phone while driving I freak out and try to get at some distance from them -- I personally know how dangerous this is because I sometimes use a cell phone when I'm driving!!!! In fact, we recommend that people NOT use Talking Signs while crossing streets or walking up/down stairs... and Talking Signs is perhaps (at this point at least) the ultimate in "no brainer" wayfinding technology.

If you have a lot to share now, provide links to web sites or list important documents and where to find them

Smith-Kettlewell page for Talking Signs research: www.ski.org/Rehab/WCrandall

Talking Signs Company web site: www.talkingsigns.com

Position paper of Talking Signs and links to Dept. of Geography (UC Santa Barbara) Talking Signs research of Jim Marston: http://ubats.org/marston.htm

Laurel E. Leigh, M.S., COMS

Co-Director and Assistant Professor
Orientation & Mobility Program
Department of Graduate Studies in Vision Impairment
Pennsylvania College of Optometry
8360 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027
Phone: 215-780-1449
Fax: 215-780-1357
E-Mail: Lleigh@pco.edu

History: I received a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Stockton State College and my M.S. in Visual Disabilities from Florida State University. The emphasis of my M.S. degree was in Orientation and Mobility and Teacher of the Visually Impaired. In addition to my full time position at PCO, I am a Doctoral student in Special Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to entering my Ph.D. program I worked as an O&M Specialist at St. Joseph's School for the Blind in Jersey City, New Jersey for ten years. During that time I provided O&M instruction for infants, toddlers, school-aged children, and adults. Most of the students I served had significant additional disabilities. I also carried a part time private practice and held contracts with the BVS in Pennsylvania and several school districts in southern New Jersey.

Interests: My dissertation research topic deals with issues related to the preparation of O&M professionals and the efficacy of distance education methods specifically as they relate to the O&M curriculum.

Concerns: The upcoming World Congress emphasizes the opportunities for independent navigation of novel environments for individuals who are blind or have low-vision the new wayfinding technologies offer. It is imperative that the O&M personnel preparation programs curriculum remain up to date with these changes and how they will impact the way O&M is taught to individuals of all ages. It is my hope that the World Congress will serve as the opening forum for a discussion of how the personnel preparation programs will respond to the future of blind navigation.

Alan Brooks

New Initiatives Manager
The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (UK)
Hillfields
Burgfield Common
Reading RG7 3YG
United Kingdom

Tel/Fax + 44 01647 281167
alan.brooks@guidedogs.org.uk

History:

I am qualified as a Guide Dog Mobility Instructor and an Orientation & Mobility Instructor which has involved me in teaching mobility to blind and visually impaired people for the past 38 years. As the former Development Officer and Assessor for the International Guide Dog Federation I have enjoyed the opportunity of observing and teaching mobility to blind and visually impaired people in more than 60 countries from every continent.

Current responsibilities and activities:

Evaluating technological and other devices in the field of blind mobility.
Identifying devices to help address the special needs of some clients.
Supporting the training of professionals teaching mobility.
Representing Guide Dogs (UK) on technical matters (dogs, clients, training etc.) nationally and internationally.
Chairman of Assistance Dogs (UK).
Vice Chairman of The Joint Committee for the Mobility of Blind & Partially Sighted People.
Member of the International Mobility Conference Committee.
Member of the Assessment & Development Committee for the International Guide Dog Federation.
Guest lecturer on Inclusive Design in the Built Environment & Ergonomics at Reading & Guildford Universities.

Ensuring that devices aimed at addressing the needs of visually impaired people incorporate the principles of "Inclusive Design".
Establishing effective working partnerships between the product designer, end user and trainer. Involving all at each stage in the development of new products with the aim of ensuring that the end user obtains a mobility aid that they will use, rather than one the designer thinks they need.

Femi Nzegwu

Dr. Femi Nzegwu is Research Consultant at Guide Dogs for the Blind (UK). She is a graduate of Georgetown University, UCLA, and the University of Kent at Canterbury. She brings to the field of visual impairment where she has worked for the past 5 years a unique, multi-disciplinary background in public health, social policy and political literature. Currently she is involved in innovative research on the needs of people with a visual impairment in the UK. Out of this research has evolved a greater appreciation of the need for the promotion of inclusivity in the design of all mainstream technology. Inclusive technology is technology that enables equal access and provides equal benefit for all. It should eliminate barriers that create undue effort, promote separation or special treatment of any kind, thereby enabling universal use regardless of disability, age or gender. Inclusive technology is technology that excludes no one save those excluded only by the product requirements as opposed to the product design. This Congress can help define and shape the orientation of future technological development. What will it take to bring to the prominent attention of product designers the need for the adoption and practice of inclusive design?

James R. Marston, Ph.D.

Post Doctoral Researcher
Department of Geography
3611 Ellison Hall
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California 93106-4060
Office Phone 805-893-7274
Email: marstonj@geog.ucsb.edu
home page: http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~marstonj/
Website for the personal guidance system developed by Loomis, Golledge and Klatzky: http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/pgs/main.htm

Visually impaired since 1985, I have a personal and professional interest in technologies that can increase the ability to access urban opportunities and increase transit use for persons with visual impairments. My Ph.D. work, with advisor Reginald Golledge, focused on location based technology for the blind. Applied field experiments were conducted, culminating in a large scale experiment at a multi-model train station, where blind participants made transfers from various kinds of transportation modes to other modes. By measuring completion times for those using their regular methods of navigation and those using RIAS (Remote Infrared Audible Signage) we were able to determine what some of the many barriers to successful transit use were and the efficacy of the RIAS technology. We also asked many qualitative questions and measured spatial relationship knowledge of both groups.

I have been a post doctoral researcher, with Jack Loomis, Reg Golledge and Roberta Klatzky as part of the consortium funded by NIDRR, with Mike May as PI. Since joining in 2001, we have done a large survey and three field experiments of various interfaces designs.

Passion: Once I tried, and then tested various navigation technologies on others, my passion for this work was inflamed, as I saw the confidence and independence exhibited by otherwise dependent travelers.

Key ideas and positive energy: The field work conducted has shown over and over that blind people, given the right types of environmental cues, can do an amazing amount of navigation and independent travel.

Concerns: There is a rapid increase in the number of research ideas, prototypes, and products for visually impaired navigation and travel. They are designed by a wide range of experts in various fields. This Congress is being convened at a time when these many ideas must be shared with other researchers and consensus addressed about what works best as viable projects. The technology has arrived at a place where it is time to start seriously investigating the best methods and procedures to be able to offer a truly easy to use, inexpressive, and reliable system that will increase and augment blind navigation. A Congress such as this is the ideal time and place to share the wealth of information that has been gathered in recent years.

Susanne Smith Roley M.S., OTR/L, FAOTA

Susanne Smith Roley is an occupational therapist who obtained her BS in OT at Indiana University and her MS in Allied Health Sciences at Boston University. Susanne is on staff at the University of Southern California, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy as the Project Director for the USC/WPS Comprehensive Program in Sensory Integration. She is the Coordinator of Education and Research at Pediatric Therapy Network and is in private practice in Orange County, CA. She is chair of the Commission on Practice for AOTA; a contributing author of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process; and past chair of the Sensory Integration Special Interest Section. She is an internationally recognized author and lecturer on the theory and application of sensory integration. She is co-editor of the books, Understanding the Nature of Sensory Integration with Diverse Populations, and Sensory Integration: Applying Clinical Reasoning to Diverse Populations.