The supporting infrastructure for the blind and visually impaired is constantly being expanded: floor guidance systems and traffic lights with audio signals are a matter of course for us nowadays, trained guide dogs accompany visually impaired people in their everyday lives. The new technology of artificial intelligence (AI) can help to create exciting technology with which blind people can become more independent and more easily navigate through the city on their own.
GUIDE-Walk is a digital, portable assistance system that helps blind and visually impaired people orientate themselves in traffic and improve their safety. With the use of a camera, a motion sensor and a LiDAR sensor, the device records images and information from the environment and processes them. The integrated AI-assistant Gabrielle learns to recognize obstacles and dangers such as cars, pedestrians, bicycles and traffic lights and warns the blind wearer via headphones.
The GUIDE-Walk 2.0 is the successor to a prototype, which was created last year as part of a project work for Jugend forscht (German Federal Young Researchers Contest).
TVAktuell
According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), around 1.2 million blind and visually impaired people live in Germany.
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BILD
While other 15-year-olds are playing on the Playstation after school or playing soccer on the field, Tamas Nemes is working on his invention.
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DBSV
What technology is behind the GUIDE-Walk? A visualization of the components.
About the components
The main feature of the device is the object detection AI, which can detect obstacles in real time.
About the AI
In cooperation with the BBSB Oberpfalz e.V. and the OTH Regensburg, two affected people tested the device.
About the tests
Data and evaluations on various aspects of the GUIDE-Walk.
About the results
Do you have further interest in the project? Here you will find materials and information such as brochures, posters and the research paper.
About the materialsA short presentation video was created for the competition in which the project as a whole, as well as the tests and interviews with those affected are presented. If you are still interested in the project or if you have any questions, please leave me a message.
My name is Tamas Nemes, I'm 18 years old and a high school student in Bavaria, Germany. The possibilities of AI and its technical applications have interested me for a long time. I came up with the idea of developing GUIDE-Walk through some friends of mine who struggle with a visual impairment themselves and told me about the challenges they face in everyday traffic.
I'm working on the the blind guidance system for three years. During this time, I learned a lot and was able to get to know the effort involved in product development. The goal that has always motivated me was to create a safe everyday helper for the blind. Two affected people who tested the device can confirm my intention: AI can and should continue to be used to help people and perhaps give them a new perspective through the "eye of the computer".
If you have any questions, suggestions, etc., please send me a message at guidewalk.geraet@gmail.com or feel free to use the following contact form!
