Safety Navigation using a Conversational User Interface For Visually Impaired People
Madalin Matei, Lenuța Alboaie, Adrian Iftene
Abstract
Starting with everyday activities such as taking a walk at the outside environments, use of different public transportation methods or even buying different goods, visually impaired people need to put in a considerable effort to complete these so-called trivial tasks for sighted people. Given this, according to WHO (World Health Organization) it is estimated that there are at least 2.2 billion people who have a near or distance vision impairment. This paper presents an ongoing project that aims to address mainly two problems: the creation of a system designed to safely moving visually impaired people to points of interest using public transportation and designing of a communication mechanism that will balance between keeping the individual as safe as possible and also providing relevant indications. The current paper is divided in two main parts. In the first part, in addition to the study of similar systems, the factors underlying the architectural decisions on which the developed system was built, are debated and analysed. The second part presents the results obtained after a series of preliminary tests carried out with the help of visually impaired people. The application seems promising, being enthusiastically received by those who tested it, because it offers them safety and independence when travelling through the city.