During this project I have done research, UX Design, visual design and user testing.
During my minor “intelligent environments”, I did a project with two students for “Royal Dutch Visio Centre” an expertise centre for visually impaired people.
Our assignment:
Develop a prototype based on problems that visually impaired/blind visitors of Visio experience on the route around orientation and mobility. Using available technology such as: apps, GPS, iBeacons and iOS smartphones.
The problem:
Visually impaired individuals experience trouble navigating new locations.
Research question:
Can we improve the sense of security in visually impaired when navigating new locations with an application in combination with iBeacons?
Three sketches of the application.
The prototype:
To get to the prototype we’ve done research and talked to visually impaired/blind people. We found out that they like to receive spoken instructions, when navigating. They don’t like to look at their phone because this creates a distraction.
User test prototype and route.
Urban environments are full of noise and obstacles. To assist the visually impaired in navigating by themselves we have developed an iPhone application that gives users instructions when they are in the proximity of an iBeacon. These instructions inform them about potential hazards ahead and what kind of landmarks they can expect around them. To show how the prototype works I made a video. Watch the video. The results indicate a slight improvement in sense of security and participants commented positively on the usefulness of the app for walking new routes.
We published a paper about our research and I am proud that we presented a demo of our prototype at the UbiComp / ISWC 2016 trade fair in Heidelberg, Germany.
Want to know more about the project? Please do not hesitate to contact me.