Development of the obstacle detection system combining orientation sensor of smartphone and distance sensor

In the existing walking support system, the range of detection is limited, and it is very difficult to detect obstacles such as a step or a hollow. Therefore, we aim at the development of a new walking support system for a visually-impaired person detecting neighboring obstacles by making use of a smartphone which is a high-performance portable information terminal. In this study, we have developed a walking support system combining the orientation sensor of the smartphone and a small distance sensor at the first stage. When we investigated its precision in detecting an obstacle, it was found that the system could detect obstacles which disturbed the walking of a visually-impaired person such as a step and a wall. We will find an appropriate key to detection to improve the detection precision of the system and make further improvements in the system by trial experiments in the future.