About the Practice
Problem Statement:

People who are visually challenged face a lot of difficulties in walking due to obstacles present on road like electric poles, parked vehicles etc.Once Anang helped a blind lady to find directions. This incident prompted him to study and research about the problems faced by visually impaired. He found that blind man sticks/ smart walking sticks to help visually impaired people to navigate were available, which could detect obstacles at the ground but nothing was available, which could detect obstacles at waist level and above. Anang got inspired by navigation mechanism used by bats and incorporated the same in a goggle.Bats do not use their eyes for visual navigation, they emit specific frequency ultra-sound from their mouths or nostrils and detect obstacles by sensing the echo bounced back from the obstacles. http://nif.org.in/innovation/intelligent-goggles-for-blind/1055

Detail:

Ananghails from the eastern-most state of India, Arunachal Pradesh. When he was still in school in 12th grade,he developed smart goggles for the blind, which he fondly calls G4B. These sensor-mounted goggles alert the visually challenged people against any waist-high object that is located nearby. Anang employed ultra-sonic transmitters, receivers, and a microprocessor in his smart goggles to detect nearby obstacles and alert the user in the form of vibration. The sensor can be conveniently retrofitted on goggles, without causing any discomfort to the user. Closer the obstacle, greater the vibration from the sensor and lower the chance of an accident. Therefore, these smart goggles do not supplant, on the contrary, only supplement smart sticks. Anangworked on the existing technology and found that smart sticks already available in the market were used to navigate electric poles, unguarded manholes, ditches on the road, parked vehicles, etc. However, there were no market interventions to alleviate the problems faced by the blind above the waistline. While trying to find a solution to this, Anang’s inspiration came from bats that use the principle of echolocation in their flight. Bats normally emit specific ultrasonic frequency through their nostrils or mouths during their flight. The vibrations received by the bats help them to identify obstacles and fly seamlessly without dashing onto any object. Therefore, instead of using eyes, they engage the principle of echolocation for navigation.


About the Innovator

Knowledge Provider / Innovator: Anang Tadar
Address: Papum Pare, Arunachal Pradesh
City: Papum Pare
State: Arunachal Pradesh
PIN Code 791111

Practice Details

Manufacturing Capacity: b) Design Support, d) Licensing, e) Franchising
Photo Links:

Problem Scale: 1) India 2) Around the world
Blog Link 5:


GIAN Reference: GIAN/UAL/147
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