Conceptual Design of a Shoulder-mounted Guiding System for the Visually Impaired based on Master-Slave Coordination

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jike.202604305

Author(s)

Bochong Chen

Affiliation(s)

Bohai University, Jinzhou, Liaoning, China

Abstract

With the advancement of artificial intelligence, embedded computing, and multi-sensor fusion technologies, intelligent guide devices tailored for the visually impaired have gradually become a key focus in accessibility research. Although traditional white canes and guide dogs can assist visually impaired individuals to some extent in their daily travels, they still face challenges such as limited sensing ranges, insufficient environmental information dimensions, and low interaction efficiency in complex urban environments. To address these issues, this paper proposes a conceptual design for a multimodal shoulder-mounted guide system aimed at the visually impaired community. This study takes the shoulder-mounted structure as the primary information carrier and constructs a system architecture featuring “environmental perception-edge computing-multimodal feedback-primary-secondary collaboration.” The system design integrates various sensors, including wide-angle vision cameras, LiDAR, and millimeter-wave radar, and leverages an edge AI computing platform to perceive and analyze obstacles, dynamic targets, and road conditions in complex environments. At the same time, this paper proposes a dual-channel information mapping strategy based on “auditory spatial cues + shoulder tactile feedback” to reduce the cognitive load that might be caused by single-speech announcements. In terms of system coordination, this paper further designs a primary-secondary linkage mechanism among the shoulder-mounted main device, the smart blind cane, and the voice terminal, and conducts a theoretical analysis of the communication and data synchronization scheme based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). This paper discusses the feasibility of this guide dog system from several perspectives, including system architecture, sensor layout, multimodal perception logic, and interaction methods. The study suggests that the shoulder-mounted carrier has certain potential advantages in terms of wearing stability, multi-device coordination, and spatial distribution of information feedback, which could provide new research directions for the design of future intelligent guide dog devices. Since this paper currently focuses primarily on conceptual design and theoretical architectural analysis, and has not yet completed the engineering implementation of a full-scale physical system or conducted large-scale field tests, the related functionalities still require further experimental validation in subsequent studies.

Keywords

Visual Impairment Assistance; Multimodal Perception; Scapular-Guided Navigation; Primary-Secondary Collaboration; Barrier-Free Interaction.

References

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