Abstract
There are approximately 300,000 visually impaired persons in Japan. Most of them are old and cannot make appropriate use of their white cane. Therefore, it is imperative to develop some instruments that support the independent activities of the visually impaired. Our objective of this study is a development of a simple and inexpensive navigation system for the visually impaired which can use in the indoor space. In this system, a color sensor installed on a white cane senses the colored guideline, and by vibration, the system informs the visually impaired that he/she is walking along the guideline. RFID tags and a receiver for these tags are used in the map information system. An antenna for RFID tags and the RFID tag receiver are also installed on a white cane. The receiver receives tag information and notifies map information to the user by mp3 formatted pre-recorded voice.
