• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.187-194
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• 2016

When performing experiments in indoor and outdoor environment, we need a system that monitors a volunteer to prevent dangerous situations and efficiently manages the data in real time. We developed a guidance device for visually impaired person that guides the user to walk safely to the destination in the previous study. We set a POI (Point of Interest) of a specific location indoors and outdoors and tracks the user's position and navigate the walking path using artificial markers and ZigBee modules as landmark. In addition, we develop path finding algorithm to be used for navigation in the guidance device. In the test bed, the volunteers are exposed to dangerous situations and can be an accident due to malfunction of the device since they are visually impaired person or normal person wearing a eye patch. Therefore the device requires a system that remotely monitors the volunteer wearing guidance device and manages indoor or outdoor a lot of map data. In this paper, we introduce a managing system that monitors the volunteers remotely and handles map data efficiently. We implement a management system which can monitor the volunteer in order to prevent a hazardous situation and effectively manage large amounts of data. In addition, we verified the effectiveness of the proposed system through various experiments.

• Journal of the HCI Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2019

In this study, a smart assistive device is designed to recognize pedestrian signal and to provide audio instructions for visually impaired people in crossing streets safely. Walking alone is one of the biggest challenges to the visually impaired and it deteriorates their life quality. The proposed device has a camera attached on a pair of glasses which can detect traffic lights, recognize pedestrian signals in real-time using a machine learning algorithm on GPU board and provide audio instructions to the user. For the portability, the dimension of the device is designed to be compact and light but with sufficient battery life. The embedded processor of device is wired to the small camera which is attached on a pair of glasses. Also, on inner part of the leg of the glasses, a bone-conduction speaker is installed which can give audio instructions without blocking external sounds for safety reason. The performance of the proposed device was validated with experiments and it showed 87.0% recall and 100% precision for detecting pedestrian green light, and 94.4% recall and 97.1% precision for detecting pedestrian red light.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.167-173
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• 2014

A white cane is used by many people who are blind or visually impaired. The studies and developments in the field of smart electronic white cane have been progressed to improve walking safety of the visually handicapped person. In this paper, we describe a situation-awareness white cane which support and guide walking of the visually handicapped person by giving information of surrounding situation through connection of a white cane and a mobile device. There are easily accessible buttons in the situation-awareness white cane. These buttons is connected with the mobile device by blue-tooth, so by pushing these buttons, the visually handicapped person can receive sound-guidance. As a result, the visually handicapped person can walk more safely by getting more information of situation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.10a
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• pp.320-322
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• 2021

As the world's elderly population increases, the proportion of visually impaired is also increasing, and there are still many restrictions on the use of outside activities, such as safety problems and lack of guidance information. To solve this problem, research on smart devices such as smart glasses with optical character recognition (OCR) function is being actively conducted. In this paper, we propose a system that recognizes obstacles ahead and informs information by voice, and also guides the way to the destination. Using the deep learning object recognition model Yolo, it let them to recognize the risk factors as obstacles such as stairs and Larva cones. and it also deliver the information with a voice. so you can expect that the visually impaired can do a lot of different activity even more now that system takes the visually impaired to the destination by using the directions API, voice recognition, TTS library.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.147-154
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• 2023

In this paper, we propose a barrier-free course route navigation service named "Theme Road" aimed at improving the mobility and convenience for elderly electric wheelchair users with walking disabilities. To achieve this goal, we conducted a user survey through shadowing and in-depth interviews to gather insights on the challenges experienced by elderly electric wheelchair users. We identified potential solutions for each inconvenience through co-creation workshops, resulting in a set of design considerations and app functionalities. Using persona development and service scenarios, we designed and implemented the "Theme Road" service as a dedicated navigation application for barrier-free course navigation. Unlike conventional route navigation and mapping services, our study stands out by offering a unique approach that combines recommended destinations and safe routes based on experiential analysis from elderly electric wheelchair users.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.186-200
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• 2023

This study aims to improve the usability of the white cane, which is walking equipment that most local visually impaired people use and carry when going out, and to contribute to the prevention of safety accidents and the walking rights of visually impaired people by providing improvement and resolution measures for the problems identified. Also, this study is a study on the visually impaired, primarily targeting the 1st to 2nd degree visually impaired people, who cannot go out on their own without walking equipment such as a white cane, corresponding to 20% among approximately 250,000 blind and low vision people in the Korean population. In the study process, the concept has been developed from the user's point of view in order that the white cane becomes a real help in the walking step of the visually impaired and the improvement of usability of the white cane, the main walking equipment for the visually impaired, are done by problem identification through the Double Diamond Model of Design Thinking (Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test (verify)). As a result of the investigation in the process of Empathy, a total of five issues was synthesized, including an increase in the proportion of the visually impaired people, an insufficient workforce situation to help all the visually impaired, an improvement and advancement of assistive devices essential for the visually impaired, problems of damage, illegal occupation, demolition, maintenance about braille blocks, making braille block paradigms for the visually impaired and for everyone. In Ideate and Prototype steps, situations derived from brainstorming were grouped and the relationship were made through the KJ method, and specific situations and major causes were organized to establish the direction of the concept. The derived solutions and major functions are defined in four categories, and representative situations requiring solutions and major functions are organized into two user scenarios. Ideas were visualized by arranging the virtual Persona and Customer Journey Map according to the situation and producing a prototype through 3D modeling. Finally, in the evaluation, the final concept derived is a device such a smart cane for guidance for the visually impaired as ① a smart cane emphasizing portability + ② compatibility with other electronic devices + ③ a product with safety and convenience.