A walking navigation system for the blind

This paper proposes a walking navigation system for the blind. The system is based on a comparison of data obtained by a pedometer and a terrestrial magnetic sensor and prearranged teaching data of a route to a destination. The system gives an appropriate instruction (using voice and buzzer sound) during a user's walk. This paper mainly describes experiments designed to clarify the characteristics of the system. The results show that the nodes of a walking route for teaching should be less than 50 m, since the maximum error of the system is about 10% in a walking distance of 50 m. The experiments also show that the walkers (sighted men with eye masks) were guided by the system along a course of about 900 m, taking about 40 to 50 mins. © 1998 Scripta Technica. Syst Comp Jpn, 28(13): 36–45, 1997