Interactive Mixed Reality White Cane Simulation for the Training of the Blind and the Visually Impaired

This paper presents a mixed reality tool developed for the training of the visually impaired based on haptic and auditory feedback. The proposed approach focuses on the development of a highly interactive and extensible Haptic Mixed Reality training system that allows visually impaired to navigate into real size Virtual Reality environments. The system is based on the use of the CyberGraspTM haptic device. An efficient collision detection algorithm based on superquadrics is also integrated into the system so as to allow real time collision detection in complex environments. A set of evaluation tests is designed in order to identify the importance of haptic, auditory and multimodal feedback and to compare the MR cane against the existing Virtual Reality cane simulation system.