The Tangible Pathfinder Design of a Wayfinding Trainer for the Visually Impaired

We detail our proposal for an orientation and mobility (or wayfinding) trainer for the visually impaired—the Tangible Pathfinder. The Tangible Pathfinder allows autonomous learning of a new setting, self-assessment of the resulting cognitive map, and eventually on-site mobility assistance when physically walking through the environment. The Tangible Pathfinder integrates a tablet-like tangible user interface (TUI) which tracks a set of physical objects placed on its surface, and ac- companying, spatially-related, 3D auditory cues. The detachable physical set of objects affords a "cane- vision" tactile vocabulary, based on a set of miniature representations designed from the point-of-view of a vision-impaired person walking with a cane. The Tan- gible Pathfinder supports various wayfinding training activities and can be employed as a static or as an inter- active tactile portable map. Its tactile legend and audi- tory cues can be used to represent practically any de- sired environment, and can be downloaded directly onto the Tangible Pathfinder by the visually impaired user from an online database. 1 Tangible User Interfaces and the Blind