IRIS: An Application for the Visually Impaired Using Google Cloud API

The visually impaired struggle to walk safely without having any human guidance. They face several problems in their lives which include identifying the hindrances when they are walking. Traveling from one place to another is a tedious task for them requiring the help of other people. White canes and guide dogs are usable but are not fully reliable. Due to this disability, they have to go through a lot of hardships to conquer over the problems in navigation. Thus there is a need for a smart solution which would overcome the challenges faced. Focus is on designing one kind of a visual aid which is cost-effective and efficient. In this context, we propose a smart stick (IRIS) to help the user in obstacle detection and navigation. A conventional PVC pipe forms the stick on which ultrasonic sensors, camera, GPS module, GSM Module which are all interfaced with Raspberry Pi are mounted at different positions to detect and identify obstacles in the path of the user. Google Cloud Vision API recognizes the objects in the surroundings and delivers an audio signal about the same via earphones. The sense of sight of the user is now achieved by the sense of hearing. It also uses a GSM Module and a GPS module to contact the user’s relatives in emergency situation by sending them the user’s location. The whole device’s design ensures independence to the user.