Authors:
D. Castells
1
;
J. M. F. Rodrigues
2
and
J. M. H. du Buf
2
Affiliations:
1
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
;
2
University of the Algarve (ISE and FCT), Portugal
Keyword(s):
Sidewalk border detection, Obstacle avoidance, Path tracking, Visually impaired.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Active and Robot Vision
;
Artificial Intelligence
;
Biomedical Engineering
;
Biomedical Signal Processing
;
Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
;
Data Manipulation
;
Feature Extraction
;
Features Extraction
;
Health Engineering and Technology Applications
;
Human-Computer Interaction
;
Image and Video Analysis
;
Image Formation and Preprocessing
;
Implementation of Image and Video Processing Systems
;
Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics
;
Methodologies and Methods
;
Motion, Tracking and Stereo Vision
;
Neurocomputing
;
Neurotechnology, Electronics and Informatics
;
Pattern Recognition
;
Physiological Computing Systems
;
Sensor Networks
;
Signal Processing, Sensors, Systems Modeling and Control
;
Soft Computing
;
Visual Navigation
Abstract:
We present part of a vision system for blind and visually impaired people. It detects obstacles on sidewalks and provides guidance to avoid them. Obstacles are trees, light poles, trash cans, holes, branches, stones and other objects at a distance of 3 to 5 meters from the camera position. The system first detects the sidewalk borders, using edge information in combination with a tracking mask, to obtain straight lines with their slopes and the vanishing point. Once the borders are found, a rectangular window is defined within which two obstacle detection methods are applied. The first determines the variation of the maxima and minima of the gray levels of the pixels. The second uses the binary edge image and searches in the vertical and horizontal histograms for discrepancies of the number of edge points. Together, these methods allow to detect possible obstacles with their position and size, such that the user can be alerted and informed about the best way to avoid them. The system
works in realtime and complements normal navigation with the cane.
(More)