Marking in Space and Acquisition of Environmental Information by Data-Carrier for the Visually Impaired

Abstract

We are conducting a research project aimed at building an information secured environment for the visually impaired, especially in our campus, by combining data-carrier technology and networks. As visually impairedness badly hinders detection of changes in the environment, we need to use some interface to convey environmental information to the visually impaired. Changes in the surroundings could be recognized, if not by using sight, by recognizing changes of landmarks. So we attach RFID-tags to objects placed at any point in the surroundings, in which we keep secure (=correct) information concerning the environment. In this way we can turn any location in the surroundings into a "landmark", meaning that the location can be treated by a computer as a secure point in space, because we can keep correct information in this RFID-tag. Here we describe our information acquisition scheme and information securing support for the visually impaired partly by using autonomous cruising robots designed in the projects.