PROJECT INFORMATION

PROJECT SUMMARY

The SoV Lite project aims to help people with visual impairments to perceive and navigate in almost any type of environment (indoor / outdoor), without the need to use pre-defined markers or sensors, under normal lighting conditions (during the day, with natural / artificial light).  This project builds upon the results achieved in the Sound of Vision project (www.soundofvision.net), towards the development of a more ergonomic and accessible assistance system.

Within the SoV Lite project we designed, developed and validated an original non-invasive portable device capable of generating a multisensory + haptic auditory representation of the environment. This representation is created, updated and transmitted to the visually impaired user in a continuous and real-time manner. This representation allows the user to perceive the environment to some extent without blocking the relevant auditory information from the environment. The SoV Lite device includes hardware for 3D scanning of the environment, processing components and audio and haptic output components.

In addition to this continuously transmitted representation, the system continuously monitors events of interest representing special situations, both of a positive nature (e.g. meeting a relative or friend) and of a negative nature (e.g. the danger of hitting an object or falling into a pit). If such an event is detected, it will be flagged to the user, in a specific way, based on its importance and priority.

Figure: RGB image of the environment and segmented image for perception-navigation

Figure: training in virtual environments

Figure: training and tests in real controlled environments

Figure: Sound of Vision / SoV Lite at World Expo Dubai 2022

SoV Lite

SoV Lite will bring the final prototype of the Horizon 2020 Sound of Vision project close to the commercial product – a system that will help the blind dynamically perceive and navigate any interior or exterior environments, thus substantially increasing their mobility and quality of life.

The results of the SoV Lite project will consist in obtaining a system that will use a state-of-the-art stereo camera, with large aperture (> 100 degrees horizontally and 60 degrees vertically) and which, although it has certain limitations in indoor spaces (difficulty in estimating distance in the case of non-textured objects), always provides complete color information of very high resolution, which can be correlated with other acquired data (eg inertial, ultrasound) to obtain a satisfactory depth map and ensure the desired functionality (navigation and perception).
Thus, the transition to state-of-the-art stereo + inertial sensors + ultrasound sensor, and adaptation of algorithms, will cover with a single piece of equipment, low weight and affordable cost, all indoor and outdoor environments and will allow unification and optimization of 3D processing flows.