National Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development

National Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development

ISSN: 2455-9040
Impact Factor: RJIF 5.22
www.nationaljournals.com
Volume 3; Issue 1; January 2018; Page No. 752-756

Third eye for the blind using arduino and ultrasonic sensors
M Narendran1, Sarmistha Padhi2, Aashita Tiwari3
1 (AP, OG) Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, SRM Institute of Science & Technology Ramapuram, Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, India
2, Student, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, SRM Institute of Science & Technology Ramapuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
3 Department of Computer Science & Engineering, SRM Institute of Science & Technology Ramapuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract
Third eye for the blind is an innovation with the help of the multidiscipline subjects like computer science, electronics engineering
and health science which helps the blind people to navigate with speed and confidence by detecting the nearby obstacles using the
help of ultrasonic waves and notify them with a buzzer sound or vibration. According to WHO 39 million people are estimated as
blinds worldwide. They are suffering a lot of hardships in their daily life. The affected ones have been using the tradition white
cane for many years which although being effective, still has a lot of disadvantages. This will be a wearable technology for the
blinds. One of the main peculiarity of this device is that it will be affordable. The Arduino Pro Mini 328- 15/16 MHz board is worn
like a device. This will be equipped with ultrasonic sensors, consisting of module. Using the sensor, visually impaired can detect
the objects around them and can travel easily. When the sensor detects any object it will notify the user by beep or vibration. Thus
this is an automated device. Thus this device will be of a great use for the blinds and help them travel different places.

Keywords: arduino, wearable band, buzzer, blind, people, compact, ultrasonic, obstacles

1. Introduction white cane for many years which although being effective,
With the improvement of the living standards of the people, still has a lot of disadvantages and limitations. Another way is,
we have become so materialistic that we have forgotten how having a pet animal such as a dog, but it is really expensive.
the physically disabled people live a tough life. They undergo Thus the aim of the project Third eye for the Blind is to
rigorous, apathetic and indifferent behaviour towards them for develop a cheap, affordable and more efficient way to help the
being physically disabled. They become dependent on other blind people to navigate with greater comfort, speed and
people in a way for their day to day routine chores. Blind and confidence. This is the wearable technology for the blinds
impaired persons always depend on other people for their which helps resolve all the problems of the existing
locomotion. Eye are prime sense of organ in perceiving the technologies. Now a days there are so many technologies,
outside environment; dysfunction of such prime sense organ things and smart devices for the visually impaired people for
severely effects the knowledge perceiving capability of the the navigation, but most of them have certain problems for the
outside environment. Therefore, going around to places in blind people and the major drawbacks are that those things
such environment is a very big challenge because the blind need a lot of training and efforts to use. One of the main
people cannot depend on their own eyes and thus face many peculiarity of this innovation is, it is affordable for everyone,
difficulties [1]. the total cost being less than $25 or ~1500 INR. There are no
The objective of this project The Third Eye for the Blind is to such devices available in the market that can be worn like a
design a product which is very much useful to those people cloth and having such a low cost and simplicity. With the use
who are visually impaired and those who often have to rely on of this improvised device in a large scale, with improvements
others. Third eye for Blind project is an innovation which in the prototype, it will drastically benefit the community of
helps the visually impaired people to move around and go the visually impaired or the blind people. The walking cane is
from one place to another with speed and confidence by a simple and purely mechanical device dedicated to detect the
knowing the nearby obstacles using the help of the wearable static or the constant obstacles on the ground, uneven surfaces,
band which produces the ultrasonic waves which notify them holes and steps via simple tactile-force feedback. This device
with buzz sound or vibrations. It allows the user those who are is light, portable but limited to its size and it is not used for
visually impaired to walk freely by detecting the obstacles. dynamic obstacle detection [4].
They only need to wear this device as a band or cloth on their These devices operate like the radar and the system of the
body. device uses the ultrasonic waves fascicle to identify the
According to WHO or the World Health Organization, 39 height, direction and the speed of the objects. The distance
million people are estimated as blinds worldwide. They are between the person and the obstacle is measured by the time
suffering a lot of hardship in their daily life. The physically of the wave travel. However, all the existing systems inform
disabled ones have been using the traditional way that is the the blind the presence of the object at a specific distance in

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front of or near to him. These details helps the user or the for the detection where the sensors range will be wide.
blind people in detecting the obstacles and thus change the In today’s world of innovations, there are many innovations
way and walk accordingly. Information about the objects and for the visually impaired people like the white cane with the
their place in the way of the walking like an obstacle and their cane with a red tip for helping the movements of the blind
characteristics can create additional knowledge to enhance the people. There are many different types of canes used in
space manifestation and memory of the blind or the visually today’s world with growing technologies such as as the white
impaired people. To overcome, the above mentioned cane, the smart cane [7], and the laser cane [8]. The cost of the
limitations this work offers a simple, efficient, configurable trained dogs is also very high and is not affordable option [9].
virtual for the blind. A survey found [10] that the remote guidance system is very
difficult to carry and thus the wearable band will be more
2. Literature Survey optimized version.
Over the last few years or we can say over the last decades, Likewise Guide Cane, this invention also has a control button
research has been conducted for new devices and technologies on the handle, and the button has four different directions.
to design a good and reliable and efficient system for blind or This invention of the Third eye for blind has the same
visually impaired people to detect the obstacles and warn or shortcomings or limitations as the Guide Cane where there
alert them at danger places or the obstacles. There are some will be a difficulty to save space for the cane or to place the
systems which has some limitations and clampdown. smart cane like the other. Other than that, cost is also a
Shoval et al. in [1] developed a Navbelt, an obstacle avoidance problem in this project as it uses ultrasonic sensors and many
wearable portable computer which is only for indoor servo motors. If the cost is high, users may not be able to
navigation. Navbelt was equipped with two modes, in the first afford for it\ because the average income of the visually-
one the system information was translated to audio in different impaired people is usually less. Smart Cane has been designed
sounds. One sound for free for travel direction and other for by students from Central Michigan University where this
blocked, it was difficult for the person to differentiate the invention uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). RFID
sounds. Other problem was the system would not know the is used to detect objects or obstacles in front of the user and
user momentary position. detects the RFID tag that has been placed in several locations
D. Yuan et al. in [2] have discussed about the virtual white to navigate the users. This invention is just like a normal stick
cane sensing device based on active triangulation that can but is provided with a bag, which the user to wear. The bag
measure distances at a rate of 15 measurements/second. A provides electrical power to the invention and informs the user
blind person can use this device for sensing the environment, through speakers inside the bag. For users who cannot hear,
pointing it as if it was a flash light. Beside measuring there are special gloves that will vibrate at every finger, in
distances, this device can detect surface discontinuities, such which different vibrations in each finger have different
as the foot of a wall, a step, or a drop-off. This is obtained by meanings. However, this invention has several shortcomings
analysing the range data collected as the user swings the and is only suitable for small areas. This is because it only
device around, tracking planar patches and finding detects the area with RFID tag otherwise this invention only
discontinuities. Benjamin et al. in [3] introduce a laser cane works as a regular blind cane.
with three photo diodes and three laser diodes function as
receiver making an optical triangulation. The laser cane 3. System Architecture
generally detects the obstacle in three specified directions.
One is 45º to the ground for overhanging obstacles, the second
one is parallel to the ground and third one is for sharp
deepness. The laser cane has no data or technology or we can
say system for determining the location and the position of the
obstacle, rather it is just like a hit and trial method. J. Na
proposed an interactive guide system for indoor positioning of
this, which can‟t detect the obstacles and hurdles. The system
is not suitable for the outdoor activities. Sabarish. S in [4] have
described the development of a navigation aid in order to
assist blind and visually impaired people to navigate easily, Fig 1: Circuit Diagram of the device
safely and to detect any obstacles. The system is based on a
microcontroller with synthetic speech output. In addition to
this, the device consists of two vibrators, two ultrasonic
sensors which is mounted on the user’s shoulders or any other
body part and another one integrated into the cane. M.A
Ungar S [5]. has proposed methods for the visually impaired
people for the urban cities. But they didn’t considered about
the people who cannot afford costly equipment and devices.
This limitation is overcome by the device third eye for the
blind. Ms. Pooja Sharma [6] has discussed that the obstacles
can be detected, but it has many limitations on the angles and
the distance. On contrary, this project will have a wide angle Fig 2: Detailed circuit diagram

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The device or the wearable band is circuited with the Arduino. 6. Working Operations
The LEDs and the buzzer are connected to the Arduino and This proposed system consists the equipment like Arduino
similarly the ultrasonic sensors are also connected to the mini pro, ultrasonic sensor, pref board, vibrating motor,
Arduino board. The soldering is done according in the buzzers for detecting the obstacles and letting the user know
Arduino and the connections are established. about the obstacle, Red LEDs, Switches, Jumper cable, power
bank, Male and female header pins, 3.3 volt old mobile battery
4. Existing System which is unused or discarded, some elastic and stickers to
The existing system consists of the devices or the supports make the device wearable as a band for wearing for the users.
like white cane for helping them to detect the obstacles and The wiring of the device is done in a following manner. The
travel to places, pet dogs, smart devices like vision a torch for Ground of LED, buzzer and vibration motor are connected to
blinds. But, there were many limitations and problems in this GND of the Arduino. The +ve of the LED and the middle leg
existing systems like in the white cane, it may easily break or of switch is connected to the Arduino pin 5. The +ve of the
crack. The white cane may get stuck at the pavement cracks of Buzzer is wired to the first leg of the switch and the +ve of the
the different objects. Whereas the pet dogs cost is huge and Vibration motor is wired to the third leg of the switch.
need a lot of training. The Ultrasonic sensor are wired accordingly. The Ultrasonic
sensor pin VCC is connected to the Arduino pin VCC,
5. Proposed System Ultrasonic sensor pin GND is connected to the Arduino pin
The design is based on a special wearable device based on the GND, Ultrasonic sensor pin Trig is attached to the Arduino
Arduino board which can be worn like a cloth for blinds or a pin 12, Ultrasonic sensor pin Echo is connected to the Arduino
band. This device is equipped with five ultrasonic sensors, PIN 12. The switch used here is for selecting the mode.
consisting five modules which are connected to the different (Buzzer or vibration mode.)
parts of the body. Among them, two for both the shoulders, We first cut the pref board in 5 X 3 cm dimension and solder
another two for both the knees, and one for the hand. It’s the the female headers for the arduino to the board. Then
choice of the visually impaired people, they can either use one soldering of the buzzer is carried out. Then using the glue
band or put it anywhere on their body wherever they are connect the vibrating motor and solder the wires to it. Then
comfortable. With the use of these five ultrasonic sensors in connection of the LED is done. Then connect the switch.
the device and by wearing it on the body, the blind can detect Connect the header pins for ultrasonic sensors and for the
the objects in a five dimensional view around them and can battery input. Then solder all the things and connect the
easily travel anywhere by detecting the obstacles. When the arduino and ultrasonic sensor to the board. Also connect the
ultrasonic sensor detects obstacle the device will notify the elastic band to all the modules. For making the module for the
user through vibrations and sound beeps. The intensity of hand, connect the ultrasonic sensor to the board by using 4
vibrations and the rate of beeping increases with decrease in jumper cables. Then connect a 3.7 volt mobile battery to this
distance and this is a fully automated device. module. Then connect the elastic band. In the end after all the
The features of the Third Eye for Blind will help the visually cnnections are done to the Arduino board, upload the code to
impaired people in many ways. By wearing this device, they each arduino board and power the 4 other modules using a
can fully avoid the use of the white cane and such other power bank.
devices. This device will help the blind to navigate without
holding a stick which is a bit annoying for them. They can
wear the device as a band or like a cloth and it can function
very accurately and they only need a very little training to use
it as it is quite simple, efficient and easy to operate and wear.\

Fig 4: Module for hand

The US sensor is a transducer, and is used in pair as

transreceiver. The transmitter emits the US waves and if
obstacles are present in the path, the US waves hits the
obstacles and gets reflected back, the reflected wave is
received by the receiver. The US sensor is a combination of
one transmitter and receiver. The time interval between
sending and receiving of the US signal is calculated, this time
interval is used to calculate the distance between sensor and
the obstacle.
The equuation for the distance calculation between the sensor
Fig 3: Position of the modules and the object is as follows:

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D = (HPTW * SV)/2 notify the user wearing it.

Where, D = Distance in cm.
HPTW = High time of pulse width. 8. Conclusion
SV = Sound velocity in cm/s. Thus, this project proposed the design and architecture of a
new concept of Arduino based Virtual Eye for the blind
The sensors which are placed in waist belt are in such a people. A simple, cheap, efficient, easy to carry, configurable,
manner that the Ultrasonic pulses of sensors must not be easy to handle electronic guidance system with many more
overlapped one over the other. Sensors has a field of view amazing properties and advantages is proposed to provide
(coverage) of about 60 degrees for 4 feet distance, as the constructive assistant and support for the blind and visually
distance from the sensor increases, the coverage angle impaired persons. The system will be efficient and unique in
decreases. its capability in specifying the source and distance of the
Thus, the objective is to cover a wide angle to detect the objects that may encounter the blind. It is able to scan and
obstacles with the help of the ultrasonic sensors to help the detect the obstacles in the areas like left, right, and in front of
blind and make it easy for them to move around easily without the blind person regardless of its height or depth. With the
any hassle. proposed architecture, if constructed with at most accuracy,
Hence, the distance calculation is calculated and the sensor the blind will be able to move from one place to another
detects and the further procedure of the buzz sound to the user without others help.
is carried out.
9. Future Enhancement
The entire project can be made in the form of jacket, so that
the device doesn't need to be wear one by one. By specifically
suing the specialized boards that are designed, using them
instead of Arduino and also by using high quality ultrasonic
sensors makes and gives faster response which make the
device capable of working in crowded places and thus this
will be implemented in the future enhancement of this device.

10. References
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Belt and the Guide Cane, IEEE Transactions on Robotics
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2. Yuan D, Manduchi R. Dynamic Environment Exploration
Using a Virtual White Cane, Proceedings of the IEEE
Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and
Pattern Recognition (CVPR), University of California,
Santa Cruz, 2005, 1-7.
3. Benjamin JM, Ali NA, Schepis AF. A laser cane for the
blind”, Proceedings of San Diego Medical Symposium,
Fig 5: Angle of field of detection 1973, 443-450.
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Thus, this way Third Eye for Blind will be designed for the using Microcontroller, International Journal of
visually impaired people and will make it very easy and Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT), 2013;
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The presented system is designed and configured for the use 6. Pooja Sharma, Shimi SL, Chatterji S. A Review on
of the blind and visually disabled people. This device is able Obstacle Detection and Vision, International Journal of
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Case 1: When the obstacle or the object is in the left it will tell (ConTEL '09), IEEE, Zagreb, Croatia, June. View at
the user that: The obstacle is in left Scopus. 2009, 111-117.
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obstacle is in front. 9. Amjed Al-Fahoum S, Heba Al-Hmoud B, Ausaila Al-
Similarly for all the directions like left, right, back etc it will Fraihat A. A Smart Infrared Microcontroller-Based Blind

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Guidance System”, Hindawi Transactions on Active and

Passive Electronic Components. 2013; 3(2):1-7.
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