[Nfbkabs] Blind Driving Project

[Shannon Caldwell]

FYI 

Shannon Caldwell 

Sjgc14 at windstream.net 

 

blind drivers

 

>Blind can take wheel with vehicle designed by university 

engineering design

>team

 

>By Steven Mackay

 

>BLACKSBURG, Va., July 15, 2009 -- A student team in the Virginia 

Tech

>College of Engineering is providing the blind with an opportunity 

many never

>thought possible: The opportunity to drive.

 

>A retrofitted four-wheel dirt buggy developed by the Blind Driver 

Challenge

>team from Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory uses 

laser

>range finders, an instant voice command interface and a host of 

other

>innovative, cutting-edge technology to guide blind drivers as 

they steer,

>brake, and accelerate.  Although in the early testing stage, the 

National

>Federation of the Blind -- which spurred the project -- considers 

the

>vehicle a major breakthrough for independent living of the 

visually

>impaired.

 

>"It was great!" said Wes Majerus, of Baltimore, the first blind 

person to

>drive the buggy on a closed course at the Virginia Tech campus 

earlier this

>summer.  Majerus is an access technology specialist with the 

National

>Federation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, a 

research and

>training institute dedicated to developing technologies and 

services to help

 

>the blind achieve independence.

 

>Majerus called his drive a liberating experience, adding that he 

drove

>before on Nebraska farm roads with his father as a guide in the 

passenger

>seat.

 

>Sitting inside the vehicle, a blind driver can turn the steering 

wheel, stop

 

>and accelerate by following data from a computing unit that uses 

sensory

>information from the laser range finder serving as the 'eyes' of 

the driver,

 

>in addition to a combination of voice commands and a vibrating 

vest as

>guides.  A member of the Virginia Tech student team sat next to 

Majerus in

>the passenger seat to monitor the system's software operations.

 

>"It's a great first step," Majerus added.  "As far as the 

differences between

 

>human instructions and those given by the voice in the Blind 

Driver

>Challenge car, the car's instructions are very precise.  You use 

the

>technology to act on the environment -- the driving course -- in 

a very

>orderly manner.  In some cases, the human passenger will be 

vague, "turn

>left" -- does that mean just a small turn to the left, or are we 

going for

>large amounts of turn?"

 

>Also driving the vehicle was Mark Riccobono, also of Baltimore, 

the

>executive director of the Jernigan Institute, who also is blind.  

He called

>his test drive historic.  "This is sort of our going to the moon 

project," he

 

>said

 

>In 2004 Jernigan Institute challenged university research teams 

to develop a

 

>vehicle that would one day allow the blind to drive.  Virginia 

Tech was the

>only university in the nation to accept the nonprofit's call two 

years

>later, said Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and Mechanisms 

Laboratory,

 

>part of the Virginia Tech mechanical engineering department.  The 

National

>Federation of the Blind provided a $3,000 grant to launch the 

project.

 

>"I thought it would be a very rewarding project, helping the 

blind," said

>Hong, the current faculty adviser on the project.  "We are not 

only excited

>about the vehicle itself, but more than that, we are excited 

about the

>potential of the many spin-off technologies from this project 

that can be

>used for helping the blind in so many ways."

 

>The team will bring the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle to the 

National

>Federation of the Blind's Youth Slam summer camp event held July 

26 through

>Aug.  1 in College Park, Md.  There, the team hopes to have 

teenagers who

>would be obtaining their driver's licenses, but cannot because of 

their

>blindness, drive the buggy.

 

>Youth participants also are expected to remote control drive 

miniature cars.

 

>Additionally, the car is expected to ride in a National 

Federation of the

>Blind-sponsored parade in Washington D.C.

 

>"I most look forward to learning as much as I can from these 

bright young

>students," said Greg Jannaman, who led the Virginia Tech student 

team in his

 

>senior year and graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in 

mechanical

>engineering.  "Blind students from across the nation apply to be 

selected to

>attend this summer camp.  While we are there to provide an 

educational

>experience for them, I can only imagine the invaluable feedback 

and fresh

>new ideas that they will provide in return."

 

>Jannaman is excited about the vehicle's success.  "There wasn't a 

moment's

>hesitation with any of our blind drivers, whereas blind-folded 

sighted

>drivers weren't as quick to let go of their preconceptions," said 

Jannaman

>of Hendersonville, Tenn.  "The blind drivers actually performed 

better than

>their sighted counterparts.  An overwhelming sense of 

accomplishment overcame

 

>me as I simply rode along while Wes and Mark successfully 

navigated the

>driving course without my assistance."

 

>Early models of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle relied more on

>technologies for fully autonomous vehicles, previously developed 

by Virginia

 

>Tech mechanical engineering students as part of the DARPA Urban 

Challenge.

>The student team redesigned the vehicle so that the blind 

motorist has

>complete control of the driving process, as any sighted driver 

would.

 

>This change in approach led to new challenges, including how to 

effectively

>convey the high bandwidth of information from the laser sensors 

scanning the

 

>vehicle's surrounding environment to the driver fast enough and 

accurate

>enough to allow safe driving.  As a result, the team developed 

non-visual

>interface technologies, including a vibrating vest for feedback 

on speed, a

>click counter steering wheel with audio cues, spoken commands for

>directional feedback, and a unique tactile map interface that 

utilizes

>compressed air to provide information about the road and 

obstacles

>surrounding the vehicle.

 

>Riccobono knows of mock ups and non-working "blind driver car" 

set-ups from

>the past, but says this is the first working vehicle to put the 

blind and

>visually impaired in control of the steering wheel.  "Blind 

people have

>brains, the capacity to make decisions," he said.  "Blind people 

want to live

 

>independent lives, why would they not want to drive?"

 

>Even once the technology is perfected, laws now barring the blind 

from

>driving and public perception must be changed, Riccobono said.  

"This is the

>piece that we know will be the most difficult," said Riccobono, 

adding that

>the car must be near-perfected before the National Federation of 

the Blind

>can truly push the car to law-makers and the general public.  He 

said this

>effort will take millions of dollars in development.

 

>The 2009-10 student team already is planning major changes to the

>technology, including replacing the dirt buggy vehicle with a 

fully electric

 

>car commonly used by traffic officers in downtown city centers.  

The

>all-electric vehicle would reduce the vibration which can cause 

problems to

>the laser sensor, and it will provide clean electric power for 

the computing

 

>units and that is better for the environment.

 

>Hong is a National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipient.  He 

received

>his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the 

University of

>Wisconsin-Madison in 1994, and his master's and doctoral degrees 

in

>mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1999 and 2002,

>respectively.

 

>IMAGE INFORMATION: Mark Riccobono, executive director of the 

National

>Federation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute, drives the Virginia 

Tech Blind

 

>Driver Challenge vehicle through an obstacle course of traffic 

cones on a

>campus parking lot.  In the passenger seat is Greg Jannaman, who 

led the

>student team within the mechanical engineering department during 

the past

>year, and is monitoring the software of the vehicle..

 

>Contact Steven Mackay at smackay at vt.edu or (540) 231-4787 .

 

 

 

>Stewart Hughes

>Family Resource Coordinator II

>Family Access Services/PARC

>Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

>Children's Seashore House Rm# 126A

>Little Rock Foundation Family Resource Room

>267-426-7285

>HUGHESS at email.chop.edu

>In-House: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday

 

 

 

>

 

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