Abstract
The Blind cannot detect some obstacles with a cane that is the most successful and widely used travel aid. This paper describes E-cane designed for the Blind to support their traveling by detecting such obstacles. Foregoing electric travel aids do not tell surroundings or obstacles, but just convert obtained data into certain signals such as vibration. E-cane presumes surroundings from obtained data and notify interpretation. This situation presumption mechanism understands surroundings as combinations of walls and floors. This wall/floor-strategy is designed for fast and robust processing. Experiment results show that the proposed system detects and notifies surroundings properly, therefore the Blind can walk more safely.
