Intelligent Exoskeleton-Based Parallel Robot with Smart Cane for Guiding Blind People

The aim of this project is to design, implement, and test an intelligent wearable exoskeleton-based parallel robot with smart cane to improve the life quality of blind people. A 2-DoF parallel robot is proposed to guide the blind people by controlling two angles, namely, the twist angle, which is the angle between the human?s shoulder and human?s hip, and the torso angle, which is the angle between the upper and lower human?s torso. The twist angle will force the person to change his orientation toward the right direction, while the torso angle will direct the persons to increase his speed, decrease his speed, or stop his movement. Controlling the twist and torso angles will enhance the blind people?s movements toward predefined targets. Two cameras are integrated with the mechanical structure to generate 3D map for navigation and localization. Additionally, a smart cane with Lidar is used to enhance the accuracy of the generated map, especially lower points, for reliable obstacle avoidance by using advanced sensor fusion techniques. Autonomous Artificial Intelligence-based control and processing algorithms are used to perform the main functions, such as navigation and obstacle avoidance.