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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 2
Publication Date: April 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/aivp.102.11975. Alotaibi, H., Javed, R., Alghannam, M. S., Saqer, M. F., & Al-Qahtani, M. (2022). Smart Shoe Gadget for Visually Impaired People.
European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(2). 253-258.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Smart Shoe Gadget for Visually Impaired People
Hassan Alotaibi
Biomedical Technology Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences
King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA
Ravish Javed
Biomedical Technology Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences
King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA
M. Saleh Alghannam
Biomedical Technology Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences
King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA
M. Fahad Saqer
Biomedical Technology Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences
King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA
Mahdi Al-Qahtani
Biomedical Technology Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences
King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA
ABSTRACT
Human beings have a variety of senses such as hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch
which enable them to complete their desired tasks as per the situation without any
assistance. The most vital among all the senses is the sense of sight as it is the
primary input for the brain but such conditions have never been the same for
visually impaired individuals. With the use of technology, we can develop a smart
prototype that can help and serve visually impaired people. Our aim is to design a
smart shoe device to help visually impaired people to be independent in their daily
lives without depending on others. To make the device lightweight, easy to use,
cheap in price, and portable. We have used limited components such as Arduino
Uno®, Power Supply, Ultrasonic Sensor, Water Sensor, Switch, Buzzer, and Vibrator.
Ultrasonic sensor and water sensor were connected to a Vibrator (VM 0610 A 3.0)
and a Buzzer (CMI-9605IC-0580T), respectively. The range of ultrasonic sensor was
set to be used for 1 meter and 2 meters distance ranges that can be controlled via a
switch. Our proposed concept of smart shoe prototype is to assist visually impaired
people while walking indoor and outdoor that can help them walk independently
and they can get alerts for objects and wet surfaces coming their way. Thus they can
avoid mishap by using our prototype.
Keywords: Visually impaired; Blind people; Smart gadget; Ultrasonic sensor; Water
sensor.
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INTRODUCTION
Human beings have a variety of senses such as hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch which
enable them to complete their desired tasks as per the situation without any assistance. The
most vital among all the senses is the sense of sight as it is the primary input for the brain but
such conditions have never been the same for visually impaired individuals or blind people. It
would not be wrong to assume visually impaired persons live an isolated life. Visual impairment
can be of two types; first by birth and second sight loss due to several reasons such as cataracts,
diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, etc.
Individuals suffering from sight loss find it more challenging to live without the sense of sight
and to do their daily chores independently as before. Although visually impaired individuals
have a normal life but with their own comfort and style. They heavily rely on other senses such
as hearing and touch for ordinary activities. Due to challenging infrastructure and societal
norms visually impaired people certainly experience difficulties on daily basis. The most
common issues visually impaired people face are outdoor navigation-walking, limited access to
reading material, sorting clothes, extra sympathetic people, and unemployment. However, the
primary problem for them is to commute whether inside their home or outside as it can result
in accidental injuries, especially to the toe. Thus making them vulnerable and depending on
others specifically if there are traveling outside to a new place for the first time. It is not only a
tedious task but it is also physically, emotionally and physiologically challenging for them.
Currently, around 49.1 million people are blind globally, whereas around 221.4 million people
suffer from moderate to severe visual impairment. According to W.H.O. there are around 1.5%
and 7.8% of the total Saudi population are blind and visually impaired, respectively [1].
The sufferings and daily obstacles cannot be removed completely. However, the problems faced
by visually impaired people can be lessen with the use of modern technology. Earlier developed
smart cane was designed to assist visually impaired people in their surroundings and was able
to detect obstacles, stairs, and water pits. Moreover, a prerecorded message was to be played
to alert the user as needed [2]. Another smart device was designed and fitted on spectacles to
help visually impaired people and alert them of any obstacles coming in front. The smart device
was connected to a buzzer which alerts the blind person if something is in front of them [3]. A
smart belt was designed to assist their walking outdoors independently. This belt is connected
to a vibrator and starts vibrating when some hurdle is about to come around the user. The belt
consists of five sensors and connected to a smartphone application. By audible instructions, it
will describe the situation to the user so they can avoid obstacles [4]. Also, a smart shoe was
designed to identify objects coming in front of visually impaired people by utilizing an android
mobile for its functionality. It was designed using android interfacing algorithm and an Arduino
controller so the user can hear a feedback text via earphones connected to a mobile phone [5].
With the use of technology, we can develop a smart prototype that can help and serve visually
impaired people. Our aim is to design a smart shoe device to help visually impaired people to
be independent in their daily lives without depending on others. Not only it will lessen the
responsibility of caregivers for the visually impaired people but also will increase their self- confidence and overall life quality. We have chosen our design to be incorporated with the user
shoes so it can be less noticeable for others and easy to use. Adding little weight to the shoe for
electrical components would not significantly make the shoe heavy but would be suitable for
sensing the coming objects on the ground. Our designed product would help visually impaired
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Alotaibi, H., Javed, R., Alghannam, M. S., Saqer, M. F., & Al-Qahtani, M. (2022). Smart Shoe Gadget for Visually Impaired People. European Journal
of Applied Sciences, 10(2). 253-258.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.102.11975
people to identify rain or wet areas and alerts them for obstacles coming in front while they are
walking indoor or outdoor.
Planned Protocol
Our purposed prototype is to be used by disabled people so we made the operation user
friendly and less complex. Two buttons are only connected to the device: the first one is an
on/off switch and the second one is to control the range of the desirable alarming distance via
an ultrasonic sensor.
Figure 1 Block Diagram.
Target Group
Life has always been difficult for disabled people. Thus we have designed our product to be
used by visually impaired people to assist them walking independently indoors or outdoors and
ease their suffering.
Details of the Proposed Product
To make the device lightweight, easy to use, cheap in price, and portable. We have used limited
components such as Arduino Uno®, Power Supply, Ultrasonic Sensor, Water Sensor, Switch,
Buzzer, and Vibrator. Arduino Uno® based on ATmega328P microprocessor was used as a
microcontroller and the main platform to connect all the other components. Ultrasonic sensor
HC-SR04 was used to detect obstacles in front of the user. It uses ultrasound waves to
determine the distance between the sensor and the obstacles in front within a maximum range
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of 4 meters. Water sensor MH-RD was used to detect any liquid coming in front of the user and
to alert them for wet surfaces. Ultrasonic sensor and water sensor were connected to a Vibrator
(VM 0610 A 3.0) and a Buzzer (CMI-9605IC-0580T), respectively. The range of ultrasonic
sensor was set to be used for 1 meter and 2 meters distance ranges that can be controlled via a
switch. Our prototype when fitted on the shoe would help the user when they are walking
indoor and outdoor and also alert them for wet surfaces instantly.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 2 Overview of the Complete Controlling Hardware Setup.
The hardware was initially made over a solderless PCB breadboard with all the electrical
components. Arduino Uno was configured to read the data from the sensors. Each sensor
(ultrasonic and water) was tested separately and integrated into the circuit. To detect obstacles
in front ultrasonic sensor was used. They work on the principle of echo while water sensor
triggers when any liquid gets in contact with its surface. There were two options set to detect
obstacles for the ultrasonic sensor; the first range was one meter preferably to be used for
indoors and second range was of two meters preferably to be used for outdoors. After
conducting several tests for both the sensors on solderless PCB breadboard the circuit was
soldered on Vero board (as seen in figure 2) and sensors were again tested to ensure proper
working. A switch was connected to control the ultrasonic sensor range of 1 meter or 2 meters.
Table 1 shows how the ultrasonic sensor works with the switch. Moreover, the water sensor
turns on as soon as small quantity of any liquid gets in contact with its surface. Both the
ultrasonic and water sensors work in real-time without any delay so the person can save
themselves. After assembling our product, it can be attached with any shoe wear and can be
used by user independently.
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Alotaibi, H., Javed, R., Alghannam, M. S., Saqer, M. F., & Al-Qahtani, M. (2022). Smart Shoe Gadget for Visually Impaired People. European Journal
of Applied Sciences, 10(2). 253-258.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.102.11975
Table 1 Showing the working of Ultrasonic sensor
OBJECT IN 1 METER
Position 1 METER 2 METERS
Vibration ON OFF
OBJECT IN 2 METERS
Position 1 METER 2 METERS
Vibration ON ON
Our prototype has many advantages that outstand it from previously available products and
can assist visually impaired people. Many of the earlier available devices for blind person have
similar features such as a small control unit, a vibrating motor, a Bluetooth device, and a mobile
application that integrates the management of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Our
prototype does not have a GPS system which can be controlled via a mobile application [6].
However, our design is simplified to reduce costs and it consists of an ultrasonic sensor, battery
to run the circuit, water sensor, and a switch to control the range of ultrasonic sensor as
required. Another product contains an ultrasonic sensor and a smart shoe system that collects
the information from the area by detecting obstacles with the help of the stability unit and thus
transmitting notes in the form of audio tones to the user through headphones. The idea of
headphones is to serve the blind better [7]. The user will be able to hear the distance from the
current location. Also, this process works offline for better user usage. For navigation purposes,
the API is using google maps app in the background at the same time as shoes finding obstacles
[5]. Therefore, the visually impaired person can hear, and walk easily and respond quickly to
the environment with the help of these smart shoes. It has many advanced and unique features
that serve the blind, such as voice commands and the use of google maps without the Internet.
On contrast, we didn’t use such features as it could create confusion for the user if too many
instructions are coming simultaneously, thus we have set two different ranges to determine
obstacles for the user with the help of ultrasonic sensors. The switching was made easy and can
easily be done by the user. If the user is inside the house, he can move the switch to the first
position which is one meter as the obstacles will be closed. The second position is of two meters
if the blind person wants to go outdoor where obstacles will be far away so a distance of two
meters will be enough to keep them safe. The ultrasonic sensor is connected to a vibrator to
alert the user while they are walking. In some situations, where sound alarm’s sound is
unwanted, the vibrator alerts won’t bother in comparison to beep or buzzer. Another significant
problem during walking for visually impaired persons is to know about wet surfaces and to
prevent themselves from slipping on them. Thus we also used a water sensor to identify any
liquid during walking and give alert to the user in the form of a sound from the buzzer so they
can get themselves prepared for wet surfaces and be cautious while walking. The purpose of
using a buzzer here was to easily differentiate between obstacle and wet surface for the user. It
might be possible that our prototype would sound similar to other devices but the cost of our
prototype is very reasonable and easy to use with almost negligible maintenance required and
that the features available in our design are important and satisfactory.
CONCLUSION
Our proposed concept of smart shoe prototype is to assist visually impaired people while
walking indoor and outdoor that can help them walk independently and they can get alerts for
objects and wet surfaces coming their way. Thus they can avoid mishap by using our prototype.
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In future a GPS tracking will be installed to the prototype in case of emergency. Also object
identification by machine learning will be implemented and the user can get alerts to a
wirelessly connected headphone using a Bluetooth technology.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to extend their appreciation to the College of Applied Medical Sciences
Research Center and the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding
this research.
References
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International Conference on Advances in Bio-Informatics and Environmental Engineering. 2015.
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Technology, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference (IEMCON). 2017. IEEE.
4. Chakraborty, S., et al., An Intelligent and Smart Belt for the Blind People, in Advances in Smart Communication
Technology and Information Processing2021, Springer. p. 307-316.
5. Chandekar, T., et al., Implementation of obstacle detection and navigation system for visually impaired using
smart shoes. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 2017. 4(4).
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Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation, and Control Engineering, 2018. 6(4).
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Analyt Rev, 2019. 6(1): p. 2349-5138.