Indoor simultaneous localization and mapping for the visually impaired and blind people

摘要: This paper presents a wearable guiding system for visually impaired and blind people in an unknown indoor environment. The objective of this system is to obtain a map and to track the position of the pedestrian during the exploration of the new environment. The user can interact with it to provide additional information. In order to build this system the well known Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) from mobile robotics will be used. One of the most used solutions is the Extended Kalman Filter. The user will be equipped with a short range laser, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a wearable computer for processing purpose and a bone head phon. This system does not intent to replace the use of the white cane. Its purpose is to gather contextual information and transmit it to the user for navigation.