Development of a system for detection of threats to the safety of blind and vision impaired person, particularly taking into account road traffic. Legal-criminological and technological aspects

Project coordinator:

• Professor Ewa Monika Guzik-Makaruk.

The institutions performing the project:

• University of Bialystok – Project Leader;
• Stanislaw Staszic AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow;
• Future Voice System Sp. z o.o.;
• Higher School of Computer Techniques and Telecommunication in Kielce.

Project objective:

To provide support to blind and visually impaired persons in their daily lives and to enhance their safety, in particular in road traffic. To develop an intelligent system for detection of threats to the safety of visually impaired and blind persons, taking into account legal-criminological and technological aspects.

Project description:

The project will be divided into two mutually complementary parts: the legal one and the technological one. The legal part of the project will consist in an analysis of national and international laws pertaining to the safety of visually impaired and blind persons in road traffic. Also, a catalogue of existing threats and a diagnosis of the sense of security of visually impaired and blind persons as road traffic participants will be elaborated. This will enable an attempt to create an innovative model of an urban map of threats to visually impaired and blind persons participating in road traffic in urban environments. The research will involve an analysis of the situation of visually impaired and blind persons, both as victims and as perpetrators of crimes. Moreover, an assessment of the possible involvement of local authorities in implementation of state-of-the-art technologies intended for use by visually impaired and blind persons will be performed. The technological part of the project will take into account the conclusions from the legal part to develop a prototype of an intelligent mobile equipment facilitating location and assisting blind and visually impaired persons in their mobility in urban areas. Of particular importance is the fact that works will commence on the development of innovative technological tools for automatic analysis of the geometry of the surroundings using state-of-the art miniature cameras installed, e.g. in glasses.

Project financed by The National Centre for Research and Development