Visually impaired people face a lot of challenges in their everyday life. The proposed idea of an Intelligent Guide for Visually Impaired and Blind Persons is a prototype demonstrating the ever-increasing need for sophisticated technology. The intelligent stick satisfies the current needs of a blind person. With the help of this stick, blind people can ease their daily life by identifying and avoiding different obstacles.
The Intelligent Guide consists of ultrasonic sensors mounted on the stick in three directions (forward, right and left) which will help in detecting obstacles. The stick consists of a GPS receiver for receiving the coordinates of current location and a GSM module for sending and receiving the data. An SD card adapter is mounted for loading the speech output (saved in the SD card) on the command of microcontroller for guidance. All the components have been interfaced with Arduino Microcontroller. It also has an emergency button for any emergency alert to the guardian.
The whole system is stable and sturdy. The system is developed through the electronic components and a metallic stick. The results of final hardware and software integrated unit show that the designed smart stick has the potential to overcome darkness in the lives of blind persons and become their third eye. Practical testing has shown that Intelligent Guide is truly a smart and strong guide for the visually impaired and blind persons.