A Street Navigation System with Haptic Touch for the Legally Blind
Tanvas Inc. has developed a technology that allows the user to feel textures on the screen. They recognize that their technology can improve the experience of street navigation for legally blind people. Most navigation apps utilize only audio, which isn’t optimal since legally blind users may not be able to hear in loud environments, and if wearing headphones, it may block noises that are important for their spatial awareness. Currently, Google Maps, the largest navigation app in the market, only provides audio-based options for the legally blind.
Tanvas has requested a design solution to fix the problem by adding a navigation function that utilizes their haptic technology.
Project Goal: To create a haptic-based method of communicating the path directions to the legally blind.
Design Functions:
(a) Translate information to the user based on surroundings
(b) Communicate upcoming turns and steps to the user
(c) Communicate approximated arrival time to the user
(d) Inform the user when they reached their destination
Design Objectives:
(a) Safety: Keep the user on the path
(b) Simple to Use: Minimize the number of tactile items on the screen
(c) Readability: Maximize the size of tactile items on the screen
(d) Efficiency: Minimize the number of steps required to input the location
Design Constraints:
(a) Be usable by the LB with a visual acuity of 20/200
(b) Bring the user to the correct destination
(c) Technology cannot use braille
(d) Must work using one finger
After several idea iterations, 3 designs were proposed: Tactile Arrow, Dotted Path & Directional Clock.
Tactile Arrow
Dotted Path
Directional Clock
Based on the designs formulated, to figure the optimal design, weights were assigned to each objective (Safety: 35%, Simple to Use: 30%, Readability: 20% & Efficiency: 15%).
Afterward, all three designs were given a score out of 100% in each category of objectives.
The final weighted decision matrix is shown below, yielding Tactile Arrow as the optimal design.
A 2D Prototype was created for the Tactile Arrow as shown below:
The design is notifying the user about their location and requests the user for their destination through verbal communication
The application is confirming with the user that the destination of their choice is correct before the user begins their travel
Shows how the navigation app will look like when it is in use