Virtual Reality as Navigation Tool: Creating Interactive Environments For Individuals With Visual Impairments

<p>Research into the creation of assistive technologies is increasingly incorporating the use of virtual reality experiments. One area of application is as an orientation and mobility assistance tool for people with visual impairments. Some of the challenges are developing useful knowledge of the user’s surroundings and effectively conveying that information to the user. This thesis examines the feasibility of using virtual environments conveyed via auditory feedback as part of an autonomous mobility assistance system. Two separate experiments were conducted to study key aspects of a potential system: navigation assistance and map generation. The results of this research include mesh models that were fitted to the walk pathways of an environment, and collected data that provide insights on the viability of virtual reality based guidance systems. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Murphy, Nick

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Rongkai Guo
• Dr. Kai Qian

• virtual reality
• assistive technology
• mixed reality
• RSSI
• localization
• visually impaired
• Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/cs_etd/22

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu:cs_etd-1023