Michigan Students to Develop RFID-Enabled Robotic Guide Dog
From: RFID Journal - 09/14/2009
By: Mary Catherine O'Connor

The Smart Cane is a prototype device developed by Central Michigan University
(CMU) engineering students to help visually-impaired people navigate and
avoid obstacles through its incorporation of radio-frequency identification
(RFID) and ultrasonic technology. An ultrasonic sensor is mounted near the
cane's handle for detecting objects in a user's path, while guidance is
controlled by a RFID reader and antenna that the user carries in a messenger
bag for detecting RFID tags embedded in the sidewalk. Also in the bag is a
microcontroller that links the RFID interrogator, the ultrasonic sensor, a
keypad, and the RFID and ultrasonic devices used to guide the user or warn
him or her about impediments. The keypad is used to program a walking route,
while the microcontroller tells users what direction to take through an audio
speaker mounted on the messenger bag's strap. A glove that vibrates to
tactilely relay directions or warn of obstructions is wired to the controller
for users who are deaf as well as blind. The project is about to enter its
second phase of design, in which the students will create a self-propelled
robot tethered to the user to replace the messenger bag. The machine will
roll along the pathway ahead of the user. CMU professor Kumar Yelamarthi has
applied for a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to extend
the project past the phase-two design with an eye toward commercialization.
He says the long-term vision is "that retailers will offer blind or disabled
consumers a way to download directions onto a device" that they can utilize
to navigate through a store, using RFID tags and other sensor systems. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/5214/1
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10302499-1.html

Links:
Kumar Yelamarthi
http://www.et.cmich.edu/case/Yelamarthi/Home.html

Smart Cane For Blind Gives Local Awareness With Help of RFID
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2009/08/smart_cane_gives_a_new_direction.html

Ultracane
http://www.gizmag.com/go/3827/
http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=113583&top=0&productid=113906&trail=0

Efficacy of the UltraCane
http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=160377&ksectionid=160164&atlitid=184020