The goal of the project is to help people who are blind or visually impaired to shop independently. Present day shopping environments are centered around the needs of the consumer, and they aim to facilitate convenient access to different product lines varying from groceries to books to everyday electronics. Supermarkets and hypermarkets are examples of trends that have evolved providing a rich shopping experience. Unfortunately, such systems have been envisioned to cater to sighted customers and inadequately address the necessities of a person who is blind or visually impaired. In this work we are developing a system that caters to two important aspects of helping shoppers who are visually impaired. 1) Providing indoor navigation within a shopping space and 2) making available all product information.

The navigational aspects of the project are addressed by incorporating combined dead reckoning systems (linear and angular displacement measurement systems) and proximity sensors while product data acquisition is addressed by using RFID technology.

This project is supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Award #0739744, HCC: The iCare Ambient Interactive Shopping Environment.