Blind Can Take Wheel with Vehicle Designed by University Engineering Design Team
From: Virginia Tech News - 07/15/2009
By: Steven Mackay

Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory Blind Driver Challenge
student team has retrofitted a four-wheel dirt buggy with laser range
finders, an instant voice command interface, and several other technologies
to enable blind people to drive. The National Federation of the Blind, which
sponsored the team through a grant, says the vehicle is a major breakthrough
in independent living for the visually impaired. The buggy has been test
driven by a blind driver on a closed course at the Virginia Tech campus.
"It's a great first step," says Wes Majerus, the first blind person to drive
the buggy. "As far as the differences between human instructions and those
given by the voice in the Blind Driver Challenge car, the car's instructions
are very precise." Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and Mechanisms
Laboratory and faculty adviser to the project, says the project has great
potential for spin-off technologies that could be used to help the blind in
numerous ways. Early models of the blind-driver vehicle relied more on
technologies used in fully autonomous vehicles, but the buggy was redesigned
so blind motorists would have complete control of the driving process. The
change forced the team to develop non-visual interface technologies,
including a vibrating vest for feedback on speed, a click counter steering
wheel with audio cues, spoken commands for directional feedback, and a
tactile map interface that uses compressed air to provide information on the
road and surrounding obstacles. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2009&itemno=542

Links:
Blind Driver Challenge team
http://www.me.vt.edu/blinddriver

Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory
http://www.me.vt.edu/romela/

VT Mechanical Engineering Department
http://www.me.vt.edu/

Virginia Tech team tests vehicle for blind drivers
http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/state_regional/article/va._tech_team_tests_vehicle_for_blind_drivers/17716/