International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume 3 Issue 5, August 2019 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470

Smart Blind Walking Stick using Arduino

Ma Naing1, Nwe Nwe Oo1, May Thwe Oo2
1Lecturer, 2Professor
1,2Department of Electronic Engineering, Technological University, Magway, Myanmar

How to cite this paper: Ma Naing | Nwe ABSTRACT

Nwe Oo | May Thwe Oo "Smart Blind This system is based on sensors and microcontroller. The features are to
Walking Stick Using Arduino" Published in detect the obstacle for collision avoidance and it detects the object in
International Journal directions left, right, down and front. The system is composed of the ultrasonic
of Trend in Scientific sensor, IR sensor and Arduino Mega 2560. It has a low cost and lightweight
Research and system design. By using these three items, it senses the distance with sensors
Development and the blind stick frame is designed. And then send distance data to Arduino
(ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456- mega2560 controller. In emergency situations, the blind walker knows the
6470, Volume-3 | distance or safe area for themselves.
Issue-5, August IJTSRD26601
2019, pp.1156-1159, KEYWORDS: Arduino Mega, Sensors, Motor
https://doi.org/10.31142/ijtsrd26601 I. INTRODUCTION
Vision is the most important part of human physiology as 83% of information
Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and human being gets from the environment is via sight. The traditional and oldest
International Journal of Trend in Scientific mobility aids for persons with visual impairments are the walking cane and
Research and Development Journal. This guide dogs. The most important drawbacks of these aids are necessary skills
is an Open Access article distributed and training phase, range of motion and very little information conveyed. With
under the terms of the rapid advances of modern technology, both in hardware and software front
the Creative have brought potential to provide intelligent navigation capabilities. Recently
Commons Attribution there has been a lot of Electronic Travel Aids, ETA designed and devised to help
License (CC BY 4.0) the blind navigate independently and safely. Also high-end technological
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by solutions have been introduced recently to help a blind person navigate
/4.0) independently.
While such systems are suitable for outdoor navigation, due III. Hardware Implementation
to the need for a line of sight access to satellites, they still
need additional components to improve on the resolution
and proximity detection to prevent collision of the blind
persons with other objects. In this system, the walking stick
is an alternative to the traditional walking stick. Here,
Arduino MEGA 2560, ultrasonic sensor, IR sensor and
voltage regulator are used. The ultrasonic sensor is used to
detect the object in the front of the person by measuring the
distance between the object and the stick for left and right
object detection, IR sensor is used which is very small in
range. So it detects the objects which are very close.

II. Working Principle

The main part of the system is the microcontroller that
controls the other components in the system. When the
ultrasonic sensors detect any objects or obstacle in the 180-
degree path it will activate the buzzer and vibrate the motor.

Figure2. Circuit Diagram for Smart Blind Walking Stick

A smart blind walking stick is made up with Arduino mega

2560, ultrasonic sensors and IR sensor. The core part of the
system is microcontroller Arduino mega 2560. Most of the
coding system is designed in the Arduino. Arduino IDE
software and C programming language is used to run the
Figure1. Block Diagram of Smart Blind Walking Stick whole system of the walking stick.HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor

@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD26601 | Volume – 3 | Issue – 5 | July - August 2019 Page 1156
 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
is used because it is not affected by color or transparency IV. The System Operation
objects. The transmitter emits 8 bursts of a directional First, power is supplied to Arduino Mega2560 by 9V battery.
40kHz ultrasonic wave when triggered and starts a timer. And ports are initialized. And then ultrasonic sensor (front)
Ultrasonic pulses travel outward until they encounter an is sensed the object between 2cm and 30cm. If the object is
object, it causes the wave to be reflected back the unit. The discovered less than 30 cm, the buzzer will start alarm with
ultrasonic receiver would detect the reflected wave and stop delay 1 second. If the object is not discovered, the left
the stop timer. After calculating the distance, the information ultrasonic sensor is sensed. If the object is discovered less
will send to the Arduino and then, the buzzer produces the than 30 cm, the buzzer will start alarm with delay 1.5
voice. IR sensor is used to sense small obstacles, pits, seconds. If the object is not discovered, the right ultrasonic
staircase and gloves. GP2Y0A710K0F is a distance measuring sensor is sensed. If the object is discovered less than 30 cm,
sensor unit, its maximum measuring range is within 4cm and the buzzer will start alarm with delay 1.9 seconds. If the
30cm. It is composed of an integrated combination of PSD object is not discovered, the IR sensor is sensed. If the object
position-sensitive detector, IR-LED infrared emitting diode is discovered greater than 20 cm, the buzzer will start alarm.
and signal processing circuit. In this system, the distance is If the object is not discovered by the IR sensor, the system
greater than 20 cm between the object and the stick, the will start automatically. Figure.6 is the flow chart of Smart
information is sent from the sensor to the Arduino board. Blind Walking Stick System.
The operation of the smart blind stick system is composed of
three ultrasonic sensors, one IR range sensor and Arduino
mega 2560. The three ultrasonic sensors sense the three
directional distance and send distance data to Arduino mega.
The IR range sensor sense the distance of the high of the
blind stick and send data to Arduino mega. The Arduino
Mega is calculated the receive distance for the safe zone of
the blind walker. If the emergency situation, the out of safe
zone area, the Arduino mega set the buzzer for an alarm
system for the blind walker to safe.

Figure3. Working Principle of Ultrasonic Sensor

Figure6. Flow Chart of Smart Blind Walking Stick

V. System Design
A smart blind walking stick is made up with Ardunio
Mega2560, ultrasonic sensor, IR sensor, buzzer and 9V
battery. The core part of the control system is the Arduino
Mega2560. Most of the coding system is designed in the
Arduino based on the ATMEGA 2560. C programming
language and Arduino IDE software are used to run the
whole system of a smart blind walking stick.
Figure4. Working Principle of Piezo Buzzers

Figure5. Working Principle of the IR Sensor Figure7. Frame of the Stick

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
In this system, ultrasonic sensors and IR sensor are used to Discussions
read the distance information. Here, the user has used the The user gets the benefits for this system. This system is an
HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor because it is not affected by color automatic system that uses ultrasonic sensors to be
or transparency objects. The transmitter emits 8 bursts of a detecting obstacles in front, left and right by an Arduino
directional 40kHz ultrasonic wave when triggered and starts Mega2560. Adding security features for the disabled.
a timer. IR sensor is used to sense small obstacles, pits, Facilitate people with disabilities to move freely. This system
staircase and gloves. GP2Y0A710K0F is a distance measuring will operate to help all of the blind people in the world to
sensor unit, its maximum measuring range is within 4cm and make them easier to walk everywhere they want. This
30cm. It is composed of an integrated combination of PSD system was done to help the blind to move in front very well.
position-sensitive detector, IR-LED infrared emitting diode This smart blind walking stick by using technology system is
and signal processing circuit. successfully achieving the objective. That can detect objects
or obstacles in front of users and feeds warning back, in the
forms of voice messages and buzzer to users. This system is
to people with disabilities that are blind to facilitate the
movement and increase safety. If this system is used in the
real-time condition, there are many benefits. The following
benefits are some of this system:
 Time-saving
 Gained personal independence
 Save fuel
 Reduced number of accidents
 Environmental Aspects
 Can be used both indoor and outdoor navigation
 Detects obstacles and alerts the blind person through
the buzzer
Figure8. Working Principle of IR Sensor
VI. Conclusion
The system is a new concept of a smart blind walking stick
for blind people. The advantage of the system lies in the fact
that it can prove to be a very low-cost solution to millions of
blind person worldwide. The main purpose of this study is to
produce a prototype that can detect objects or obstacles in
front of users and feeds warning back, in the forms of voice
messages to users. Combination of ultrasonic sensors and IR
sensor and Arduino function for detection and distance stick
and obstacles in front of. The smart blind walking stick is
successfully designed consistent with all the objectives
achieved. One of the most important difficulties faced by the
visually challenged person is constraints in independent
mobility and navigation. They primarily the white stick as
mobility aid allowing them to detect close by obstacles on
the ground. The detection of objects above knee height is
almost impossible and is a major hindrance for them.
Developments in embedded systems have opened up a vast
area of research and development for affordable and
Figure9.Working Principle of Left Ultrasonic Sensor portable assistive devices for the physically challenged. This
system aimed at the design and implementation of a
The variety of the reflectivity of the object, the detachable unit which acts augment the functionality of the
environmental temperature and the operation duration are existing cane, to allow knee-above obstacle detection. This
not influenced easily to distance detection because of unit consists of an ultrasonic sensor and IR sensor controlled
adopting the triangulation method. In this system, the by Arduino Mega2560. The distance information is conveyed
distance is less than 20 cm between the object and the stick, to the user through non-interfering multi-frequency
the information is sent from the sensor to the Arduino board vibratory stimuli, the frequency of vibration indicating the
and then, the buzzer produces the voice. When the object is proximity of obstacles. This unit is also capable of detecting
discovered in front of the ultrasonic sensor(left), the buzzer fast-moving obstacles. A lot of effort has been put in the
alarm will start with delay 0.5s. When the object is electromechanical design of this unit conveying the voice
discovered in front of the ultrasonic sensor(front), the effectively and ensuring that it is easily attachable on the
buzzer alarm will start with delay 1s. When the object is existing stick without sighted assistance. A crucial design
discovered in front of the ultrasonic sensor(right), the optimization goal has cost the unit has been developed as a
buzzer alarm will start with delay 0.1s. When the staircase is low-cost device which is affordable by the poor in
discovered in front of the IR sensor, the buzzer alarm will developing countries.
start.

@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD26601 | Volume – 3 | Issue – 5 | July - August 2019 Page 1158
 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
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