A new path estimation strategy for predicting blind persons' motion in indoor environments

• Main Authors: Motlagh, Omid, Tang, Sai Hong, Ismail, Napsiah, Ramli, Abdul Rahman, Samin, Razali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Architectural Institute of Japan 2009
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/12752/1/A%20new%20path%20estimation%20strategy%20for%20predicting%20blind%20persons.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/12752/; https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaabe/8/2/8_2_371/_article
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

Research on the characteristics of spatial cognition without vision is used to improve the design of indoor environments to be safer for blind and visually handicapped persons. A fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) decision mechanism is presented for modeling path planning strategies adopted by blind travelers including wall-following, and shortcutting through the environment. A statistical case based reasoning (CBR) strategy is introduced for anticipating the points of switch between the two mentioned behaviours along the path. The combination of CBR and FCM modules provided a robust model of decision making which can be used for predicting blind motions. In this research, 51 eye-masked subjects contributed for obtaining the path patterns and for validating the results obtained using the proposed path prediction approach.