VibroTac S: An Electronic Assistive Device for Blind and Visually Impaired People to Avoid Collisions

This paper presents a new concept for an electronic assistive device for blind and visually impaired people. Due to the integration of tiny distance sensors into the vibrotactile wristband VibroTac (R), this novel device enables to detect obstacles in the user's vicinity and thus to avoid collisions. The simultaneous monitoring of areas in different directions up to about one meter as well as an intuitive notification of the direction and the distance of detected objects through corresponding vibrating actuators is unique and makes its use very intuitive. A prototype was tested with three blind people in a mobility and in a table scenario. We received very positive and promising feedback and blind people rated the device to have great potential to be a useful aid in their daily life.