Mangalore: Smart shoes to help visually challenged

Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 23 Jun 2012: To help the visually impaired, four final semester electronic and communication engineering students of the Srinivas Institute of Technology ( SIT) have developed innovative footwear.

 

Razik P, Sanjay P Nambiar, Sooraj PV and Shravan under the guidance of the department of electronics and communication’s assistant professor Satish Kumar K have designed the shoe with sensors and global positioning system (GPS) equipment installed on it.

 

 

A visually challenged (VC) person wearing the smart shoe will get an alert if obstacles such as a wall or tree come in their path. A vibrator installed in the shoe starts vibrating automatically in such cases.

 

The GPS equipment will guide the person wearing the shoe to reach his chosen place. The person will be provided with a wristband embedded with a keypad. Satish Kumar said, "The wristband is designed exclusively for the visually challenged. It has nine buttons on it. It is programmed in such a way that it will guide the user through a voice navigator to nine different places of his choice. For instance if a person wants to walk from his house to market, he needs to press one button and it will orally guide him to the destination."

 

The shoes are equipped with 9 volt rechargeable batteries, a speaker and a wire which will be attached from shoes to wristband. The Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology under Indian Institute of Science and Technology has sponsored the project. One smart shoe will cost around Rs15,000.

News courtesy: TOI