Sneak-Sight Shoes for the Visually Challenged

The modern Technology has not yet reached to the level of acceptance in satisfying the basics of blind people to get their way out gracefully, carefully, safety, and independently. This idea aims at the development of a prototype, smart rehabilitative shoes designed to facilitate safe navigation and mobility of blind individuals. In the sole of each shoe three pairs of ultrasonic transducers placed on the medial, central, and lateral aspects of the toe cap is mounted so as to detect ground-level obstacles of different heights as well as ground pits and holes. The outputs are given by the miniature vibrating motors which are embedded within the shoe. Additionally for visually challenged person a self charging unit which charges automatically from the motion of the user is included. Fifteen piezo transducers are attached on the ventral side of each shoe to convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy. This energy is further fed into a conditioning circuit before it charges the rechargeable batteries. It is ensured the designed circuit automatically cuts off when the battery is completely charged. Thus a complete assistive device to the visually challenged is developed to increase the quality and comfort in life.