TERRAIN - Navigation System for People with Visual Impairment

TERRAIN is a new project which develops a new assistance system for people with blindness and low vision. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The aim of the project is to create new possibilites to move more independently in urban areas for people with blindness and low vision. The project team develops an intelligent system which adapts to the users' needs and which supports the independence of the user and improves the inclusion of people with visual impairment. It aims at reducing the feeling of insecurity, disorientation and the fear of accidents.

 

The Computer Vision for Human-Computer Interaction Lab (cv:hci) and the Study Centre for the Visually Impaired (SZS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is responsible for the development and the improvement of camera-based system which allows a dynamic recognition of the environment for the mobility assistance device. The project team will develop solutions for the recognition of obstacles, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, landmarks and objects. They will also create an accessible control concept of the new user interface which incorporates audio-haptic feedback of the various information. The SZS is responsible for the specification of the user requirements and the user tests. 

 

The newly developed methods and the control concept will be integrated in a smartphone app on iOS which also allows the use of a smart watch and audio-tactile feedback.

 

Project Duration

01.07.2016 - 30.06.2019

Partners

  • ITAS (KIT intern)
  • iXpoint Informationssysteme GmbH
  • F.H. Papenmeier GmbH & Co. KG

Webpage

http://www.terrain-projekt.de

Demo Video

http://www.szs.kit.edu/img/Terrain-Demo.mp4