Assistive Technology for Visually Impaired Sports People

Overview

For visually impaired people (VIP) to participate in sports such as skiing, paddling or running, in most cases they need a one on one guide. These guides are usually volunteers, and such they are spread thin.

The aim of the assistive tech group is to create a technology solution to this problem. We strive to deliver a system that allows guides to look after multiple VIPs at once. This would allow for more VIPs to engage in sporting activities, as well as giving them independence, empowerment, and dignity.

We understand that PWC is trying to create a positive social impact for visually impaired people and holding a good wish that by using this assistive technology, visually impaired people can be more active outside.

Objectives

The overarching objective of this project is to make a quantifiable, positive impact on the visually impaired sporting community, but this can be further broken down into three key objectives:

1. Give visually impaired people independence while keeping them safe.
   We aim to give visually impaired people independence to participate in sporting activities while keeping them safe.

• To do this we will create a system that can be operated by visually impaired people, with the assistance of a guide, to navigate a course.
• We will also ensure their safety by also linking a guide to their location and status.

Note: To measure if we have met this goal, a participant should be able to navigate the course with minimal intervention by a guide, but the guide should also receive alerts in the event that a VIP that they are supervising is about to be put in an unsafe situation.

2. Allow for a better guide to participant ratio to promote wider engagement.
   We want a larger amount of visually impaired people to have the opportunity to be active. To relieve the stress on the small number of volunteer guides, our system will be able to increase the participant to guide ratio from one to one to at least two to one, if not better.

• We will measure this by attempting to safely navigate multiple VIPs with one guide and reflecting upon the result.
• We will have appropriate measures in place to ensure the safety of all participants in this activity.
• We will also discuss with the stakeholders themselves if they would feel comfortable increasing the ratio with our system.

3. Create a robust, reliable system that is applicable to multiple sports and activities to ensure that as many people benefit from this system as possible.
   We believe that a path following system could be applicable to multiple sports and activities, and so aim to leave the scope open for these applications rather than designed specifically for one. To make sure that the system is applicable to all applications, it needs to be robust and reliable in all circumstances. We will explore the possible applications of this system in relation to our stakeholders and attempt to ensure that it remains usable for as many identified uses as possible.

How to test our product

We strive to create a product that is beneficial to our stakeholders so we will prove its effectiveness by conducting a test both with and without our system in place. The results of this will show if we have met our overarching objective by quantifying the impact our system has on the stakeholder community.

Period of work

This project will be carried out from 07/08/2019 until 25/10/2019.

Scope of work

Due to the time constraints imposed by the parallel assessment process, the project will have a tight scope. There will be two major components completed by the end of the period: a front end android application and a python-based backend server.

Android Application

The android application itself will have two different sections for both VIPs following a path and guides supervising VIPs.

• For the participants themselves, the application will stream their location to the backend server as well as alert the user when they are straying from the pre-defined path.
• The guides will be able to start a session and add VIPs to it. Once added, they will be able to see the location of all VIPs in their session and will receive notifications when a VIP they are supervising is off or moving off the path.

Note:

• We will not be able to create a complete user experience for blind people to use our application during this period of work. The assistance of the guide will be necessary during the setup of the app.
• The application will not be able to create custom maps or create accounts.
• As the application will most likely utilize geolocations to track VIP location, there may be certain limitations. These include:
  • imprecise measurements due to GPS granularity
  • latency between measurement and movement
  • incorrect readings and/or late warnings at high speeds

We will create a testing document to test the limitations of the system once completed.

Backend System

The backend system will be a simple server written in python, which leaves the scope for future development. Due to the time constraints, the backend will be very simplistic and could be expanded upon if time permits. This will be run locally for demonstration purposes. It will not be deployed or hosted in any way unless necessary to complete the project.

Deliverables and Timeframe

We aim to deliver 4 releases. 3 prototypes and one MVP across two platforms, a backend API and an android application.

Deliverable	Release Date	Key Features
Prototype 1	20/08/2019	Initial Tracking across both front and back end
Prototype 2	03/09/2019	Guide integration
Prototype 3	24/09/2019	Path guidance and guide alerts
MVP	15/10/2019	Guide view all VIPs on the path
Testing document	20/10/2019	Document which outlines the time/distance constraints

Intellectual Property

All artifacts created by the Assistive Tech Group team will remain the property of the Assistive Tech Group.

Related Link

Jira: https://assistivetechgroup.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ASTG/overview