Science Projects for Blind and Visually Impaired
Eyes for Ice: an Innovative Technology

To see the project from the beginning go to Science Experiments for Blind and Visually Impaired

Phase 4 and 5 (2006) – Experiment #2 and Results
Eyes for Ice should work at different heights - Why?

1. To mount the Eyes for Ice at various location of a blind and visually impaired person based on their preference. The user might want to mount the device in different parts of there body. For example, as part of knee pad or belt or coat/vest packet near the shoulder. These locations are at different heights. Hence it is preferable to test my product and provide assurance for the user that it operates well at different heights.

2. One person height is different from other. For each person, the Mobility cane height is determined at the time of training. This is based on many factors (height of the user, the walking speed of the user, etc). Therefore the height of cane can vary with people.

3. Different canes (white support cane, mobility cane and identification cane) have different heights. The mobility cane is longer than the white support and the identification cane.

To investigate the development product, I have conducted experiments at four different heights from the ground (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m). These heights can also represent respectably: knee level, hip level, shoulder level and head level. The results below demonstrate that my product performs well.

click on image to enlarge.

Phase 4 and 5 (2006) – Experiment #3 and Results
Eyes for Ice should work only for shoulder width range. Why?

When I presented my product to an instructor for orientation and mobility, she suggested that my product should work only for a particular range. This is know of the field of view (please refer to the Case Study 2). Range for my product,

Eyes for Ice should only be shoulder width. Why is this so important? When my device beeps the user thinks that the black ice is within the next few steps. If the black ice is off to the side (away from the shoulder width) then it will confuse the user by beeping. This creates a major dilemma.

Click on image to enlarge.

Observations on Field of View Factor:

I have made two observations while doing the experiment on field of view factor.

1. When a blind person walks he/she moves the cane from left to right. This arc movement is called field of view. Field of view is normally shoulder width and it is about 0.6m.

2. By looking at the graph, it is noticeable that my device “Eyes for Ice” can work at 0.6m. This is shoulder width.

3. At 1.8m my device “Eyes for Ice” did not detect ice. This is clear since the voltage for V3 and V4 are 0 at this angle on both right and left sides.

4. At 1.2m my device “Eyes for Ice” sometimes beeps. This shows that my product needs some modifications.