Reviews

Search results

• Enhancing Blind Visitor's Autonomy in a Science Museum Using an Autonomous Navigation Robot

  Seita Kayukawa, Daisuke Sato, Masayuki Murata, Tatsuya Ishihara, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima, Chieko Asakawa · 2023 · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  Museums have historically struggled to offer blind visitors the same self-directed, exploratory experience that sighted visitors take for granted. Prior solutions — tactile tours, audio guides, or pre-fixed navigation routes — either require a human escort or constrain visitors…

  blind navigation · autonomous navigation robot · museum accessibility · visual impairment · indoor navigation

• PathFinder: Designing a Map-less Navigation System for Blind People in Unfamiliar Buildings

  Masaki Kuribayashi, Tatsuya Ishihara, Daisuke Sato, Jayakorn Vongkulbhisal, Karnik Ram, Seita Kayukawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima, Chieko Asakawa · 2023 · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  Map-based indoor navigation systems for blind travellers (CaBot, NavCog, BLE-beacon apps) work well when a prebuilt map exists, but building and maintaining those maps is labour-intensive and has only been done for a tiny fraction of the world's buildings. Engel et al. reported…

  map-less navigation · blind navigation · indoor navigation · intersection detection · sign recognition

• Planning Your Journey in Audio: Design and Evaluation of Auditory Route Overviews

  Nida Aziz, Tony Stockman, Rebecca Stewart · 2022 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research develops and evaluates an auditory route overview system that enables blind users to preview walking routes before embarking on journeys. The system addresses a critical gap: while many navigation aids support live guidance, few tools allow blind travelers to gain…

  blind navigation · auditory display · route planning · auditory icons · earcons

• Route Descriptions, Spatial Knowledge and Spatial Representations of Blind and Partially Sighted People: Improved Design of Electronic Travel Aids

  Marion Hersh, Alasdair Ramirez Garcia · 2022 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a qualitative study investigating how blind and partially sighted people acquire spatial knowledge, form mental maps, and describe routes—with the goal of informing better design of electronic travel aids (ETAs). The researchers worked with nine participants…

  electronic travel aids · blind navigation · mental maps · orientation and mobility · wayfinding

• Corridor-Walker: Mobile Indoor Walking Assistance for Blind People to Avoid Obstacles and Recognize Intersections

  Masaki Kuribayashi, Seita Kayukawa, Jayakorn Vongkulbhisal, Chieko Asakawa, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima · 2022 · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., Vol. 6, MHCI, Article 179)

  Walking an indoor corridor independently is deceptively hard for a blind traveller. Two problems compound: avoiding obstacles stacked against the wall (the same wall the traveller uses as a tactile guide) and recognising when an intersection has arrived and which directions it…

  indoor navigation · blind navigation · obstacle avoidance · intersection detection · LiDAR

• LineChaser: A Smartphone-Based Navigation System for Blind People to Stand in Lines

  Masaki Kuribayashi, Seita Kayukawa, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Shigeo Morishima · 2021 · Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  Standing in line is a mundane-looking task — at a cashier, bus stop, or airport check-in — but for a blind person it is a brittle, anxiety-ridden sequence: find where the line currently ends (a position that moves), join it without bumping into anyone, and then shuffle forward…

  line detection · pedestrian detection · orientation and mobility · visual impairment · indoor navigation

• Guiding Blind Pedestrians in Public Spaces by Understanding Walking Behavior of Nearby Pedestrians

  Seita Kayukawa, Tatsuya Ishihara, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima, Chieko Asakawa · 2020 · Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), Vol. 4, No. 3, Article 85

  Collisions with other pedestrians are one of the most common hazards for blind travellers in public space — 87.8% of blind people report colliding or nearly colliding with pedestrians, bicycles, or obstacles. White canes detect contact rather than approach, and guide dogs cannot…

  blind navigation · collision prediction · pedestrian avoidance · visual impairment · audio interface

• Smartphone-Based Assistance for Blind People to Stand in Lines

  Seita Kayukawa, Hironobu Takagi, João Guerreiro, Shigeo Morishima, Chieko Asakawa · 2020 · Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '20, Late-Breaking Work)

  This CHI 2020 Late-Breaking Work is the preliminary study that seeded the CHI 2021 LineChaser paper by the same research group. Where the fuller LineChaser system would later combine line-end finding with AR-marker-based localisation and a dual audio/vibration interface, this…

  line standing · pedestrian detection · vibration feedback · visual impairment · orientation and mobility

• BlindPilot: A Robotic Local Navigation System that Leads Blind People to a Landmark Object

  Seita Kayukawa, Tatsuya Ishihara, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima, Chieko Asakawa · 2020 · Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '20, Late-Breaking Work)

  Most indoor-navigation research for blind travellers has focused on what the authors call 'global' navigation — getting from a building entrance to a room, gate, or exhibit. The 'last few metres' of the journey, a body-scale interaction with a specific landmark object such as an…

  local navigation · landmark object · blind navigation · indoor navigation · assistive robotics

• Hacking Blind Navigation

  João Guerreiro, Hernisa Kacorri, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Edward Cutrell, Daisuke Sato, Dragan Ahmetovic, Chieko Asakawa · 2019 · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts

  This workshop summary describes a one-day CHI 2019 workshop designed to bring together researchers from multiple disciplines working on assistive navigation technologies for blind people. The organizers — experts from Carnegie Mellon University, University of Maryland, Microsoft…

  blind navigation · orientation and mobility · assistive technology · visual impairment · computer vision

• Airport Accessibility and Navigation Assistance for People with Visual Impairments

  João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Daisuke Sato, Kris Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2019 · Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper investigates whether a BLE-beacon-based smartphone navigation system can enable visually impaired travelers to move through an airport independently — a setting where they are currently required to rely on airline-provided sighted escorts to reach the gate, and where…

  airport accessibility · blind navigation · indoor navigation · orientation and mobility · visual impairment

• BBeep: A Sonic Collision Avoidance System for Blind Travellers and Nearby Pedestrians

  Seita Kayukawa, Keita Higuchi, João Guerreiro, Shigeo Morishima, Yoichi Sato, Kris Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2019 · Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '19)

  This paper presents BBeep, an assistive suitcase-shaped system designed to help blind travellers navigate crowded public spaces such as international airports, train stations, and shopping malls. The authors argue that existing blind-navigation research has focused largely on…

  blind navigation · obstacle avoidance · collision avoidance · assistive technology · wearable technology

• Modeling Expertise in Assistive Navigation Interfaces for Blind People

  Eshed Ohn-Bar, João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Kris M. Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2018 · Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI)

  This short IUI paper asks a question most assistive-navigation research leaves unasked: what happens as a blind user becomes an expert on a route? Existing smartphone guidance apps deliver the same instruction set on a user's tenth trip down a corridor as on their first,…

  blind navigation · indoor navigation · turn-by-turn navigation · visual impairment · blindness

• NavCog: A Navigational Cognitive Assistant for the Blind

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cole Gleason, Chengxiong Ruan, Kris Kitani, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2016 · Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI '16)

  This paper introduces NavCog, an iPhone-based turn-by-turn navigation assistant designed to guide blind users through unfamiliar indoor and outdoor environments without requiring expensive infrastructure or structural modifications. The authors argue that while blind travellers…

  blind navigation · indoor navigation · wayfinding · orientation and mobility · assistive technology

• Exploring Interface Design for Independent Navigation by People with Visual Impairments

  Erin L. Brady, Daisuke Sato, Chengxiong Ruan, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2015 · ASSETS 2015: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This short poster paper from ASSETS 2015 explores how people with visual impairments respond to different navigation interface designs during in situ walking tasks. The authors observe that prior research has been limited in two ways: user studies of navigation applications are…

  visual impairment · blind navigation · non-visual navigation · wayfinding · wizard of oz

• "Just Let the Cane Hit It": How the Blind and Sighted See Navigation Differently

  Michele A. Williams, Caroline Galbraith, Shaun K. Kane, Amy Hurst · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper reveals fundamental mismatches between how blind and sighted people understand pedestrian navigation, drawing on over a year of immersive qualitative research including focus groups, diary studies, and partner observations. The researchers conducted two focus groups…

  blind navigation · white cane · orientation and mobility · wayfinding · qualitative research

• Where's My Bus Stop? Supporting Independence of Blind Transit Riders with StopInfo

  Megan Campbell, Cynthia Bennett, Caitlin Bonnar, Alan Borning · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents StopInfo, a system integrated into the OneBusAway transit app that provides detailed information about bus stops to help blind and low vision riders locate and verify stops, particularly in unfamiliar areas. Locating a bus stop is a significant challenge for…

  public transit · blind navigation · crowdsourcing · wayfinding · mobile accessibility

• Headlock: A Wearable Navigation Aid that Helps Blind Cane Users Traverse Large Open Spaces

  Alexander Fiannaca, Ilias Apostolopoulous, Eelke Folmer · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demo paper presents HEADLOCK, a navigation aid built for an optical head-mounted display (HMD) that helps blind cane users traverse large open spaces — environments like building foyers, plazas, and parking lots that lack the tactile boundaries (walls, curbs, fences) that…

  blind navigation · wearable technology · head-mounted display · computer vision · sonification

• Non-Visual-Cueing-Based Sensing and Understanding of Nearby Entities in Aided Navigation

  Juan Diego Gomez, Guido Bologna, Thierry Pun · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents a context-aware navigation aid system for blind individuals that combines three levels of assistance to enhance understanding of the surrounding environment. The system addresses a fundamental challenge: blind people navigating unfamiliar…

  visual impairment · blind navigation · context-aware computing · computer vision · spatial audio

• Smartphone Application for Indoor Scene Localization

  Nabeel Younus Khan, Brendan McCane · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents a smartphone-based assistive technology that uses computer vision to determine a blind user's location inside a building where GPS is ineffective. The system operates on a client-server model running on an Android HTC Wildfire S phone. It…

  visual impairment · blind navigation · indoor localization · computer vision · smartphone

• Autonomous Navigation through the City for the Blind

  Jaime Sánchez, Natalia de la Torre · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents a study on the use of an audio-based GPS navigation application designed to help blind people navigate independently through urban environments. The software, developed for PocketPC devices with Bluetooth GPS receivers, uses a clock metaphor to communicate…

  blind navigation · GPS · orientation and mobility · mobile technology · assistive technology

21 results.