The Georgia Institute of Technology is in the process of developing a System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN) which will help the sight-impaired navigate through daily life. 

SWAN is a wearable computer:

Besides a pendant-sized wireless GPS tracker, there are light sensors and thermometers that help distinguish between indoors and outdoors. Cameras gauge how far away objects and obstacles are. A compass establishes direction. And an inertia detector tracks the roll, pitch and yaw of the user's head.

All the data are crunched by a computer in a backpack, which relays high-pitch sonar-like signals that direct users to their destinations. It also works with a database of maps and floor plans to help pinpoint each sidewalk, door, hall and stairwell.

Like a sonar device, the SWAN system sends out audible blips that quicken as users move closer to a preprogrammed target and slow as they get farther away. The sound of a hinge opening plays as it passes by a door, and cues can signal bathrooms, restaurants, stores, and other attractions.

The sounds are sent through bone-conducting headphones, specialized devices that are worn behind the ears to appease users reluctant to have their ears covered.

"This is not intended to replace a guide dog or a white cane," Walker said. "This just supplements it."

The SWAN reminded me of the research project one of our favorite Lego League Teams has been together for their presentation a couple years ago. 

Their idea was called the Grocery Positioning System (GPS), which assists the sight-impaired in grocery shopping independently.  The GPS was a work in progress, but those 4th graders really came up with a fresh idea.

1. The GPS would be worn on the user's head and the headphones would be equipped with a scanner (to scan product barcodes) as well as other sensors. 
   
2. The GPS would track your location within the grocery store by calling out the aisle as well as the department (i.e., produce, meat, etc.) you are in. 
   
3. The user can program the GPS with the specific grocery items they need before they start out on their grocery shopping venture so the GPS can direct them to the specific products they are looking for. 
   
4. In case the user worries that he or she might have forgotten an item, they can turn on a feature which has the GPS scan and name every product on the shelves as the user walks past those items.
   
5. The GPS will specify the location of the desired products by specifying the shelf location (up, down, left, right). 
   
6. The GPS is also equipped with an "assist" button so the user can request assistance from a store cleark at any time.
   

Above was a very rough overview of the key features (and I probably missed a bunch) of their GPS.  How cool would it be if someone could develop a device like this.

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