Transactions on Engineering and Sciences

Vol.3, Issue 1, January 2015

ISSN: 2347-1964 (Online) 2347-1875 (Print)

Sensor assisted stick for the blind people

G.Prasanthi1

P.Tejaswitha2

1Professor,
2 PG

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, JNTUA College of Engineering, Ananthapuramu, A. P.

Research Scholar, Product Design, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, JNTUA College of
Engineering, Ananthapuramu, A. P.

Abstract: The Blindness is frequently used to describe severe visual impairments with or without
residual vision. The application of ultrasonic ranging scheme for producing electronic walking stick for
the blind is a technological advancement. There is a great dependency for any type of movement or
walking within area or out of the particular area, they use only their natural senses such as touch or
sound for identification or walking .To overcome all these problems of blind people, need to develop a
project by using simple available technologies. This walking stick for blind people which have multiple
sensors, with the help of sensors it has possible to enhance more features to the walking stick. The
features are to detect the obstacle for collision avoidance, it detects the object in directions up, down and
front. The other sensor placed near bottom tip of the walking cane to find the pits on the ground.
Integrate these sensors to the voice record and play chip. Voice record in the different tracks; respond for
different sensors to give the audio message to the blind person by the speaker to alert. In this project,
sensors plays key role to detect the objects in all directions to make free to walk for the blind people.
Keywords: Blind walking stick; Distance measuring sensor; Microcontroller; Servomotor.
I.

INTRODUCTION

Blindness is a state of lacking the visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors. The
partial blindness represents the lack of integration in the growth of the optic nerve or visual centre of the
eye, and total blindness is the full absence of the visual light perception. In this work, a simple, cheap,
friendly user, smart blind guidance system is designed and implemented to improve the mobility of both
blind and visually impaired people in a specific area. The proposed work includes a wearable equipment
consists of light weight blind stick and sensor based obstacle detection circuit is developed to help the blind
person to navigate alone safely and to avoid any obstacles that may be encountered, whether fixed or
mobile, to prevent any possible accident. The main component of this system is the infrared sensor which is
used to scan a predetermined area around blind by emitting-reflecting waves. The reflected signals received
from the barrier objects are used as inputs to ATMEGA microcontroller. The microcontroller is then used to
determine the direction and distance of the objects around the blind[1].
The main objective of this project is to develop an application for blind people to detect the objects in
various directions, detecting pits and manholes on the ground to make free to walk.
II.

MODELLING AND ASSEMBLY OF WALKING CANE

Modeling is done using Pro/E creo 5.0. Software. PTC Creo formerly known as PRO/ENGINEER is a
parametric, integrated 3D CAD/CAM/CAE solution created by Parametric Technology Corporation
(PTC). It is the worlds leading CAD/CAM /CAE software, gives a broad range of integrated solutions to
cover all aspects of product design and manufacturing. It was the first to market with parametric, featurebased, associative solid modeling software. The application runs on Microsoft windows platform, and
provides solid modeling, assembly modeling and drafting, finite element analysis, direct and parametric
modeling and NC and tooling functionality for mechanical engineers. The modeling and assembly of sensor
assisted stick is shown in Fig 2.1.

Figure 1: Modeling and Assembly of walking cane

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Transactions on Engineering and Sciences

Vol.3, Issue 1, January 2015
III.

ISSN: 2347-1964 (Online) 2347-1875 (Print)

BASIC COMPONENTS

The main basic components presented in this project are [2,3]:

I.

Microcontroller
Sensors
Power supply
Servo motor
Buzzer
Voice record and play back device
Speaker

Microcontroller:
The ATmega8 is a low-power CMOS 8-bit microcontroller based on the AVR RISC architecture. By
executing the powerful instructions in a single clock cycle, the ATmega8 achieves throughputs approaching
1 MIPS per MHz, allowing the system designed to optimize power consumption versus processing speed.
The AVR is a modified Harvard architecture machine with program and data stored in separate
physical memory systems that appear in different address spaces, but having the ability to read data items
from program memory using special instructions.

II.

Sensors:

Distance measuring sensor unit composed of an integrated combination of (PSD) position sensitive
detector, (IRED) infrared emitting diode and signal processing circuit. The variety of the reflectivity of the
object, the environmental temperature and the operating duration are not influenced easily to the distance
detection because of adopting the triangulation method. This device outputs the voltage corresponding to
the detection distance. So this sensor can also be used as a proximity sensor.
Power Supply:

III.

There are many types of power supply. Most are designed to convert high voltage AC mains electricity
to a suitable low voltage supply for electronic circuits and other devices. A power supply can be broken
down into a series of blocks, each of which performs a particular function.

Figure 2: Block Diagram of a Regulated Power Supply System

Each of the blocks described below:

IV.

Transformer - steps down high voltage AC mains to low voltage AC.

Rectifier - converts AC to DC, but the DC output is varying.
Smoothing - smoothes the DC from varying greatly to a small ripple.
Regulator - eliminates ripple by setting DC output to a fixed voltage.
Servo motor

Figure 3: Working of Servo motor

A servomotor is a rotary actuator that allows for precise control of angular position, velocity and
acceleration. It consists of a suitable motor coupled to a sensor for position feedback. It also requires a
relatively sophisticated controller, often a dedicated
Module designed specifically for use with servomotors. Servomotors are not a specific class of motor
although the term servomotor is often used to refer to a motor suitable for use in a closed-loop control
system.

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Vol.3, Issue 1, January 2015
V.

ISSN: 2347-1964 (Online) 2347-1875 (Print)

Buzzer

The Piezo buzzer produces sound based on reverse of the piezoelectric effect. The generation of
pressure variation or strain by the application of electric potential across a piezoelectric material is the
underlying principle. These buzzers can be used to alert a user of an event corresponding
corresponding to a switching
action, counter signal or sensor input. They are also used in alarm circuits.
The buzzer produces a same noisy sound irrespective of the voltage variation applied to it. It consists of
piezo crystals between two conductors. When a potential
po tential is applied across these crystals, they push on one
conductor and pull on the other. This, push and pull action, results in a sound wave. Most buzzers produce
sound in the range 2 to 4kHz.

Figure 4: Buzzer
The red lead is connected to the input and the black lead to the ground.
VI.

Voice record and play back device:

This circuit offers true single-chip

chip voice recording, non volatile storage and Playback capability for 40 to
60 seconds. It supports both random and sequential access of multiple messages. It can be used in three
different modes. The device is ideal for use in portable voice recorders.
VII.

Speaker:

It is 8 ohms speaker and is connected to the voice recorder and it spokes out the corresponding voice
when Distance measuring sensor detects
ts the obstacle. For example if Top side sensor detects some obstacle
on its side it sends the signal to the microcontroller and program is executed and it sends the signal to voice
recorder control and master pin and the voice already recorded in voice recorder
recorder will speaks out through
the speaker Top Top Top Top.

Figure
ure 5:
5 Record and playback unit
VIII.

Basic Block Diagram:

ure 6:
6 Basic Block Diagram
Figure

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Transactions on Engineering and Sciences

Vol.3, Issue 1, January 2015

ISSN: 2347-1964 (Online) 2347-1875 (Print)

The two Distance measuring sensors are connected to the input a terminal of the micro-controller,
controller, the
buzzer and Servo motor is connected to the output terminals. Sensor 1 joined with Servo motor. The block
diagram consists of the arrangement of the components in a schematic way the block diagram is as shown in
fig 2, 3, 4.
IV.

WORKING

When power is applied to

o the circuit for the first time, a
all
ll the sensors and motors are switched off.
off All
sensors are configured as inputs and motor, buzzer is configured as outputs [5,6].
The servomotor starts rotating towards the upward and forward direction, since the distance sensor is
mounted on the servo motor its orientation also changes.
There are two sensors

Sensor1 measures the obstacle between the head and front side of the travelling path
Sensor2 measures the obstacle in the bottom direction
directi for pits and floor based obstacles.

The sensors are set a threshold limit if any obstacle is found within that range it gives beep and also
speech through speaker. Obstacles
bstacles found in different directions are indicated with different pattern beep
and speech (Top, Middle, Pit and Water) to identify them easily.
V.

RESULTS

The features presented to the Multi sensor blind stick are as follows.

Figure 8: Fabrication of Multi Sensor Blind stic

Figure 7: Multi Sensors

A.

Estimated cost:
The estimated cost and the components required are shown in the table 5.1.
Table 1: Estimated cost Analysis:
S. No
1
2
3
4
5

Component
Distance Measuring Sensors
Servo motor
Walking Stick
Micro controller & its
components
Miscellaneous

No. Required
2
1
1

Cost (Rupees)
8,000
745
450
5,000
3,000
Total=17,195

When these sticks are released in a large amount in the market then their cost will reduces.
VI.

CONCLUSION

This work reports the designing of the Multi sensor blind stick. This will be useful for the visually
impaired people. This blind stick consists of advanced features which detects front and top side of the
obstacles, pits and water stagnated/manholes on the ground. Due to these features it is the bestt equipment
for blind and visually impaired people for walking on the road. It is simple, cheap, configurable, easy to
handle intelligent guidance system. The system is designed, implemented, tested and verified, the results
indicate that the system is efficient
ficient and unique in its capability in specifying the source and distance of the
objects that may encounter the blind.

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Transactions on Engineering and Sciences

Vol.3, Issue 1, January 2015

ISSN: 2347-1964 (Online) 2347-1875 (Print)

REFERENCES
[1] World
Health
Organization
(WHO)
media
centre
factsheet(2011),
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en
[2] Electronic Devices and Circuits by Jacob Millman & Christos C. Halkias
[3] Linear integrated circuits by D. Roy choudary.
[4] Micro processors and interfacing by Douglas V. hall
[5] J. Burroughs, X-10 home automation using the PIC16F877A, Lamp, vol. 10, article 10, 2010.
[6] D. Dakopoulos and N. G. Bourbakis, Wearable obstacle avoidance electronic travel aids for blind: a
survey, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics C, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 2535, 2010.

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