A smart building and receptor, for the blind

Consider the unique conditions experienced by the blind, and an innovative use of the touch-and-feedback (as opposed to the visual) capabilities of the Tablet PC.

When a sighted person enters a room (especially large areas in large buildings), they instantly and almost subconsciously gather a collection of introductory information, much of which is non-transitory:

          Where are the exits? Obstacles?  Walls?  Elevators? Is there an information desk?    Restrooms and water fountains? Where are the dangers? Where is the fire      extinguisher?

Blind people have no such capability to survey each new environment.

However, a Tablet PC with a wireless Internet connection and a GPS receiver can instantly get a “map” (in an unconventional sense) of every building and room its user enters. A blind person can interact with the tablet screen by tracing a stylus across it to get audio instructions:

          “You are here at the south entrance”

Tracing your finger around the periphery yields:

          “West wall, exit doorway”

          “West wall, fire extinguisher”

          “North wall, elevator”

          … etc.

The surveying program can provide safe passage instructions, known obstacles and restrictions, and locations of key elements (imaging locating sections of a library or stores in a mall).

Suggested steps:

          - Get reasonable maps of a few key university buildings

          - Build an Internet-based database of such maps

          - Use GPS to retrieve the appropriate map over the Internet

          - Create a visual-to-audio translation program to generate speech in response to                       stylus movement across the map

          - Create the touch-only interface for various survey functions

Later areas of research:

          - Conversion of CAD map drawings to a standard for our use 

          - Use of accelerometers (Wii controller?) to track the blind person’s movement                         through the room