Dual Navigator Smart Cap: A boon for deaf and blind persons

TLDR: In this article, a smart navigation system that can be mounted on a cap called "Smart Cap" is presented, which can help the deaf-blind community at large in navigation and movement from one place to another without human assistance.

Abstract: The bedrock and essence of any innovation are to make human life easier, and for people who are physically challenged, this world becomes a harsh place to live. Especially while considering those people who are both deaf and blind, this paper attempts to develop a smart navigation system that can be mounted on a cap called "Smart Cap", and this device will help the deaf-blind community at large in navigation and movement from one place to another without human assistance. This Smart Cap perceives the surrounding environment, also known as visible workspace, through a camera and identifies different objects/obstacles while simultaneously guiding proper navigation to the user through audio as well as sensory perception through smart vibrating bands (for deaf people), also the path planning and GPS plays an important role in defining a safe and secure route for the user. Raspberry Pi has acted as the backbone of this cap, analogue sensor such as Ultrasonic Sensor is used for obstacle detection, software technologies such as COCO database for storing images, YOLO for object detection, coding through Python using Libraries such as NUMPY& Open CV and last but not least GPS for real-time mapping and location of the user, all this cluster of technologies together makes this Smart Cap dependable.