ShopTalk: Independent Blind Shopping = Verbal Route Directions + Barcode Scans

Independent blind supermarket shopping is difficult at best. This paper presents ShopTalk, a wearable small-scale system that enables a visually impaired shopper to successfully retrieve specific products. ShopTalk uses exclusively commercial-off-theshelf components and requires no instrumentation of the store. The system relies on the navigation abilities of independent blind navigators and on the inherent supermarket structure.