Engineering Strategies and Practice

University of Toronto
Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
APS111 & APS113
Conceptual Design Specification (CDS)

Team # 02 Date November 23, 2018

Project Title Conceptual Design Specification (CDS) for designing navigation

application for the visually impaired

Client Name Tanvas

Client Contact N/A

Tutorial Section 0105

Teaching Assistant Kingba Lawson-Jack

Prepared By Myeong Hun Song / 1004815961

(Names and Student Daniel-Yu Chun Chen / 1004932102
#s of Team Members) Jesryl Emmanuelle Calalang / 1004912981
Wenyang Fan / 1004820330
Jiale Zhong / 1004931853

Please check off which components you are submitting for your assignment:
_V_ CDS in one Google document (file) with a PDF copy submitted to Quercus with the following
components:

_V_ Cover Page _V_ Alternative Designs

_V_ Executive Summary _V_ Proposed Conceptual Design
_V_ Introduction _V_ Measure of Success
_V_ Problem Statement _V_ Conclusion
_V_ Detailed Requirements _V_ Reference List
_V_ Service Environment _V_ Appendices (Optional)
_V_ Stakeholders

_V_ Include a link (with “can edit” access) to your Google document in the Comments section of your
Quercus submission.

If any of the above components are missing, your assignment is considered incomplete. It will accrue
standard late penalties until completed.

**Attribution table with ALL team members’ signatures must be submitted in hard copy in tutorial of the
assignment debrief. An incomplete or missing attribution table will result in penalties.**
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Executive Summary
This report examines a navigation app whose focus is to aid the visually impaired. For many
people, navigation is simple, and they are able to navigate with little to no problems. But, for the
visually impaired, this task is quite challenging because of their lack of awareness. The purpose
of this research is to find methods of improvement to current navigation apps with the use of
Tanvas technology. Tanvas is a company that have developed a haptic-based touchscreen
technology, that generates electrostatic signals to transmit informations, such as texture.

The primary functions of this navigation app should indicate approaching obstacles, along with
their respective dimensions, and should generate textures of the conditions of the paths. In
addition, an objective of the app is to be accurate, in terms of the user’s displacement from their
current position to their desired destination; no more than 2 metres. To add, the user should
instantly be alerted of an upcoming obstacle; from 0.5 to 1 second. Also, the app should have
less controls (6 buttons; menu, current location, navigation, voice search, zoom in, zoom out),
and be sensitive to the obstacles’ dimensions (measured with an accuracy of 2cm). Aside from
objectives, an imperative constraint is that the design must be compatible with IOS 7.1 or
above, Android 5.1 or above, and Windows 7 or above. Based on our research, it was
determined that in 2018, 98.6% of IOS devices were running IOS 7.1 or higher, 85.4% of
Android devices were running Android 5.1 or above, and meanwhile 96.8% of Windows devices
were running Windows 7 or higher. As for stakeholders, the design mostly affects the
pedestrians who share the sidewalks with the user. The app is designed to navigate the user
around obstacles, and because of this, the probability of collision with other people increases.

Many ideas were generated as potential designs to address this problem, but ultimately, it was
narrowed down to three. The first design chosen is echolocation; it uses ultrasonic echolocation
to identify oncoming obstacles and their respective dimensions. The second alternative is
closed circuit televisions; design will use a software that filters live footage captured by the
CCTV(s). The last alternative design is augmented reality (AR); a software that is capable of
measuring dimensions and distances.

In meeting the objectives, the augmented reality (AR) design satisfied all of them accordingly.
This design had the smallest percentage error of accuracy compared to the other designs (±
5cm). In terms of response time, the AR design was very quick (2 seconds). As for less control,
only two steps are required. The final objective established was for the design to be data
friendly, and the AR design did not consume any data. For these reasons, it is recommended
that AR is the best solution for this problem. Feasibility and degree of success of this design are
going to be measured by methods for assessing accuracy of obstacle locating and alerts on
Tanvas hardware, and responsiveness of design. Then, those will be demonstrated by manual
booklet and prototype of the design.
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1. Introduction

The client, Tanvas, has created haptics-based touchscreen technology that uses electrostatic to
create virtual friction. This allow users to feel textures that they would not feel on a normal
touchscreen, creating a more immersive experience [1]. This report identifies the problems that
the visually impaired face with navigation, defines detailed requirements of this project,
examines service environments, and stakeholders who might be impacted by the project.
Finally, descriptions of three designs are discussed in detail.

2. Problem Statement

For most individuals, navigation may come across as easy and simple. However, for visually
impaired or blind individuals, this task can be challenging, as most are not visually aware of their
surroundings and rely heavily on hearing to identify their position[2]. This issue needs to be
addressed because many of those who are visually impaired are unable to travel safely and
independently and are restricted in their movements [3]. Modern navigation app such as Google
Maps do provide these individuals with voiceover and audio support [4]. However, these audio
features are limited because they can distract the users from hearing the “environmental sounds
which are essential to navigation” [2], and more importantly, they do not provide the users with
the conditions of the route, making it dangerous and difficult for these users to move around the
city.

The gap of current available technologies for navigating the visually impaired is that they fail to
provide the conditions of the route. For example, audio directions do not inform the visually
impaired users about the unevenness or rockiness of the sidewalks. The scope of this project is
to provide the visually impaired with real time conditions of the sidewalk during the navigation
process, so they can navigate by themselves safely, without the distractions of audio support.

3. Detailed Requirements

3.1. Functions
The functions define what a design has to do, technically, to address the problem in a
successive manner. In this case, the design should provide information regarding the
approaching obstacles that the user is set to encounter. Ideal primary and secondary
functions of the design are listed below.

3.1.1. Primary functions

● Detect approaching obstacles
● Alert users of approaching obstacles

3.1.2. Secondary functions

● Retrieve information about obstacles from the street
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● Indicate distance from the obstacles

● Indicate the size or dimension of the obstacles

3.2. Objectives
Objectives are critical in the design process.The lack of meeting objectives may
negatively impact the user’s overall experience. For instance, the design should be
accurate, fast and responsive, easy to use, and data friendly. These four objectives are
examined more thoroughly below.

3.2.1. Accurate
● Location of obstacles should not deviate more than 1 meter from actual
position [5]
● Sizes/dimension should be able to measure with accuracy of ± 15 cm [6]

3.2.2. Fast and responsive

● Should take less than 4 second to alert the users after appearance of
obstacles [7]
● Distances and dimensions should be remeasured every 0.2 second [8]

3.2.3. Less control

● Should not require more than 4 steps for the design to function [9]

3.2.4. Less data usage

● Should use less than 50MB of data every 10 miles of navigating [10]

3.3. Constraints
Since our design will be an add-on function to Google Maps, it must be coded such that
it is made compatible with IOS, Android, and Windows systems, the most heavily used
operating systems.

Table 3.3.1. Constraints of this design project

Constraints / Metrics Justification

Must follow the The Personal ● Location is personal information.

Information Protection and ● If not secured, it can be pirated by
Electronic Documents Act hackers or governmental organizations.
(PIPEDA) of Canada [11].
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Follows either Material Design ● Android and IOS mobile operating

Guidelines for Android Web Design system together take up 99.9 percent of
[12] or Human Interface Guidelines the market
of IOS system [13]. ● Having two versions is necessary [14]

Installable as an add-on to existing ● Non-users may think the application

applications requires more storage than needed [15].

Must be compatible with IOS 7.1 or ● In October 2018, more than 85% of
above or Android 5.1 or above. devices are running versions higher than
IOS 7.1, Android 5.1 [16][17](Appendix
A).
● By supporting more operating systems,
the design can support more users.

4. Service Environment
The service environment describes the characteristics of the environment in which the device
will operate, including three subsections; physical environment, living things, and the virtual
environment.

4.1 Physical Environment

4.1.1 Location
● The design is meant to be used in downtown Toronto.

4.1.2 Climate
● Precipitation
○ Annual precipitation of Toronto is 834mm [18].

● The speed of wind

○ Average speed of wind in Toronto is 17.0 km/h [19].
○ Speed of wind in Toronto varies from 0km/h to 85km/h [19].

● Temperature
○ Average temperature in Toronto varies from -7.3°C to 26.4°C [18].
○ Recorded extreme temperature in Toronto is a low of -32.8°C and
a high of 40.6°C.
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4.2 Living Things

The people and wildlife of Toronto are included in the subsection of living things.

4.2.1 People
● Drivers, pedestrians
○ 96 pedestrians killed by vehicle accident in 2016 [20].
○ 1.1 million cars in Toronto in 2011 [21]

4.2.2 Wildlife
● In Toronto, there are squirrel, foxes, coyote, racoon, and skunk [22].
These animals can become obstacles on the sidewalk.

4.3 Virtual Environment

Mobile data coverage can restrict where the design may operate.

4.3.1 Mobile data coverage

● Bell, Rogers, Freedom mobile, and Telus is providing 100% LTE coverage in
Toronto [23].

5. Identifications of Stakeholders
Stakeholders are those who may be affected by our proposed design. This interest may be
economic, physical, and or psychological. The stakeholders of this project are found in the
succeeding table.

Table 5.1. Stakeholders of this design project

Stakeholders Impact of design

Smartphone/tablet manufacturers ● Concerned if the design of application does not fit

that adopted Tanvas Technology with their hardware design (display notch, edge
display, etc.) [24].
● Can collaborate with design teams to optimize
design of the application to their devices.
● Force application developers to follow their design
guidelines [25].

Users of navigation application ● Require additional storage space to use Tanvas

who do not use the accessibility technology
feature of app ● Users who do not utilize will be concerned about
increasing size of application [15].

Organizations which make ● Should provide Application Program Interfaces

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operating system (Apple, (APIs) which can use Tanvas hardware [26].
Google…) ● Can be removed from app store, if design does not
follow design guidelines [12][13].

Pedestrians sharing the street ● Causes user to navigate around obstacles,

with the user creating risks of collision with pedestrians.
● Many pedestrians use their phones on the road,
and may not notice the users; knocking the device
out of their hands [27].

Drivers on the road ● As users are notified of obstacles immediately,

they can take action in an instant [28].

Guide dog trainers ● Replacement for guide dogs; guide dog market
face declination of product life cycle [29].

Competitors of the Google Maps ● App improves its accessibility services by

(Apple, Microsoft, Here implementing Tanvas technology.
technologies) ● Other app operators should improve their
accessibility services to continue competition [30].

Government of countries where ● If design commits offence on government

the design is serviced regulation, operator of design can be punished
[31].

6. Alternative Designs
Since the designs have to utilize Tanvas technology, they require users to own Tanvas
compatible devices. In addition, they will satisfy the primary function, which is notifying the users
by using their devices to indicate approaching obstacles and their dimensions. These designs
differentiate at how the information will be retrieved.

Free brainstorming and morph chart were used to generate 36 ideas. Of the 36, three designs
were chosen through multi-voting method and graphical decision chart (Appendix C, D and E)
because they are able to identify obstacle and its dimensions faster and more accurately than
the other designs. The three alternative designs that were chosen are; echolocation, closed
circuit television, and augmented reality. Descriptions of these designs are following.

6.1. Echolocation
Some blind individuals possess the ability to collect environment information from the
feedback of their tongue-clicking. Similarly, this design will use ultrasonic echolocation to
identify oncoming obstacles and their dimensions. The user will be holding the device as
they travel, and the device will scan the street and through programming, convert the
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

information acquired into haptic alerts by Tanvas hardware.

Figure 6.1.1. Sketch of design “Echolocation”

Figure 6.1.2. Description of “Friction area”

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Table 6.1.1. Performance by design “Echolocation” on objectives

Objective How it meets the objective

O1 - Accurate ● Imprecision increases with increasing detection

angle [32].
● 30° detection angle has an approximately 3.5%
error.

O2 - Fast and ● Speed of sound through a dry atmosphere at 20°C

Responsive is 343m/s, a 10-meter detection range will take the
sound wave about 0.058 seconds to double back to
the receiver in steady state [33].
○ Response time depends on temperature and
user’s speed (Appendix G).
● Bluetooth can transmit maximum of 3 Mbps; and is
fast enough to pass text-based information [34].

O3 - Less control ● Three steps required:

○ Pair sensor with phone
○ Turn on the accessibility function
○ Swipe screen to feel “virtual friction”

O4 - Less data usage ● Does not use data

Table 6.1.2. Performance by design “Echolocation” on constraints

Constraints How it meets the constraint

Must follow the The Personal ● Can run offline

Information Protection and Electronic ○ does not depend on external
Documents Act (PIPEDA) of Canada information sources.
[11].

Follows either Material Design ● Design operates as an add-on

Guidelines for Android Web Design [12] ○ covers navigation screen
or Human Interface Guidelines of IOS which already follows design
system [13]. guidelines.

Must be installable as an add-on to ● Installable as an add-on to Google

existing applications Maps.

Must be compatible with IOS 7.1 or ● Use the most recent coding style to
above or Android 5.1 or above. comply with updated operating system
versions.
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

6.2. Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) live recordings

This design will use a software that identify obstacles from the live footage captured by
closed circuit televisions (CCTVs) throughout downtown Toronto [35]. The software will
recognize obstacle dimensions as well as the distance between the users and the
obstacles in order to warn the users. The information about obstacles obtained from
these CCTVs will be transmitted to the users’ device via the internet and converted into
textures using Tanvas’ haptics technology [1].

Figure 6.2.1. Sketch of design “CCTV live recordings”

 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Figure 6.2.2. Description of “Friction area”

Table 6.2.1. Performance by design “CCTV live recordings” on objectives

Objective How it meets the objective

O1 - Accurate ● Measure distances and size of obstacles by ±

30cm.

O2 - Fast and ● Approximately three seconds for the design to

Responsive identify obstacles
● 0.25 second for the hardware to produce “virtual
friction”

O3 - Less control ● Device obtains information from CCTV, and will

alert user of obstacles
● Two steps required
○ Turn on the accessibility function
○ Swipe screen to feel “virtual friction”

O4 - Less data usage ● Use around 300MB of data every 10 Miles

○ human walks 3~4 miles every hour, and
captured by two CCTV cameras in D1
resolution [36][37][38].

Table 6.2.2. Performance by design “CCTV live recordings” on constraints

Constraints How it meets the constraint
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Must follow the The Personal ● Use CCTV cameras that are already
Information Protection and Electronic set up, obeying PIPEDA.
Documents Act (PIPEDA) of Canada
[11].

Follows either Material Design ● Design operates as an add-on

Guidelines for Android Web Design [12] ○ runs over the navigation
or Human Interface Guidelines of IOS screen
system [13]. ■ already following
design guidelines.

Must be installable as an add-on to ● Work as add-on application to Google

existing applications Maps.

Must be compatible with IOS 7.1 or ● Use the most current coding style to
above or Android 5.1 or above. satisfy updated operating system
versions.

6.3. Use Augmented Reality (AR) Platforms

The design uses augmented reality (AR) platform-based software to measure

dimensions and distance of obstacles. The camera of the device captures real-world
images, then the AR software can identify and measure distance and dimension of
obstacles by setting anchors on obstacle [39][40] . While user is approaching to the
anchored obstacle, the software updates the distance [41]. The information about
obstacles is transformed into texture by Tanvas technology.
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Figure 6.3.1. Sketch of design “Use Augmented Reality Platforms”

Figure 6.3.2. Description of the design [42]

Table 6.3.1. Performance by design “Use Augmented Reality Platforms” on objectives

Objective How it meets the objective

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O1 - Accurate ● Dimension measured with an allowable error of ±

5cm [43]

O2 - Fast and Responsive ● Spot obstacles and its distance within 2 seconds

O3 - Less control ● Two steps required

○ Turn on the accessibility function
○ Swipe screen to feel “virtual friction”

O4 - Less data usage ● No data usage needed

Table 6.3.2. Performance by design “Use Augmented Reality Platforms” on constraints

Constraints How it meets the constraint

Follow the The Personal Information ● Can run without any data, location of
Protection and Electronic Documents user is not shared.
Act (PIPEDA) of Canada [11].

Follows either Material Design ● Design operates as an add-on

Guidelines for Android Web Design [12] ○ runs over the navigation
or Human Interface Guidelines of IOS screen
system [13].. ■ already follows design
guidelines.

Must be installable as an add-on to ● ARcore app must be installed from

existing applications application stores. [44]
○ For design to work as add-on
software for Google Maps.

Must be compatible with IOS 7.1 or ● Running Android 6.0, iOS 11.0 or
above or Android 5.1 or above. higher [44].

7. Proposed Conceptual Design: Use Augmented Reality (AR)

Platforms

In the navigation field, previous support include voiceovers and verbal directions, however, they
can be distracting at times and are not suitable in loud environment [2][45]. The cameras on
smartphones now support AR and can precisely pinpoint objects and their dimensions. Despite
the slight inconsistency between different AR measuring softwares it is very close to the real
dimensions of the object [43] (see figure 7.1, 7.2, 7.3). Through this technology advancement,
the AR softwares can be used to accurately identify obstacles and their dimensions as well as
their distance from the users [46] (Appendix F).
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Figure 7.1. Measure of distance

Figure 7.2. Comparison of AR measurement and ruler measurement of beverage cup

 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Figure 7.3. Comparison of AR measurement and ruler measurement of beverage cup

The obstacles will be notified by custom vibration pattern of the users’ choice [47], and the
obstacle dimensions will be communicated through the size of the textured area. Multiple
obstacles will be represented by different textures on the screen since Tanvas’ technology is
capable of creating multiple textures on one surface [48]. As users approach an obstacle, the
frequency of the vibration will gradually increase.

Moreover, with growing interest in AR, more modern devices will be equipped with compatible
cameras, increasing the accessibility of the design [49].

8. Measure of Success
This section describe methods that assess the performance of the design. To measure the
feasibility and competence of our design, testing and modeling of its accuracy and
responsiveness are required.

8.1. Methods for Assessing Accuracy and Alerts using Tanvas Hardware
To assess the accuracy of the app in locating obstacles, the design team will use the
prototype to conduct a controlled experiment adapting the following procedure:
1. Select an obstacle of any dimension.
2. Measure the dimensions of selected object with a measuring tape and record.
3. Have a design team member use the design five meters away from obstacle, and
record the dimensions captured by the design.
4. Record the displayed dimensions of the obstacle on Tanvas Hardware
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, at a distance of 10 and 20 meters.

6. Compare the captured dimensions with the real dimensions. The error is
expected to be below ± 15cm (Section 3.2).

8.2. Methods for Assessing Responsiveness

To assess the responsiveness (time taken for the design to identify the obstacle and
display an alert on Tanvas hardware) of the design, the design team will use the
prototype to conduct a controlled experiment adapting the following procedures:
1. Select a team member with eye mask on to simulate an visually impaired person
(testee).
2. Have another team member (tester) standing five meters away from the testee.
3. Have the testee walking at a speed of 4 km/h.
4. Record how long it takes for him or her to receive instruction from the design to
change direction to avoid the standing-still tester.
5. Have the standing-still team member also walk at a speed of 4 km/h to simulate
pedestrian, and record the time for the “blind” testee to react again.
6. Change the testers speed to 15 km/h to simulate a jogger, and record time for the
testee to react again
7. Compare the data, the expected time for the design to provide haptic feedback is
within four seconds, and the design is expected to cycle a scan every 0.2
seconds (Section 3.2).

8.3. Demonstration of feasibility

The design team will provide the client with the following documentations and models to
demonstrate our design’s feasibility:
● A manual booklet of the application, covering
○ Application setup procedures
○ How to operate the application
● Physical app prototype made by paper, showing
○ the area of texture emulation
○ indication of dimension and distance of obstacles
○ the new navigation interface incorporated with the design

9. Conclusion

This design will be a safe and distraction-free navigation option for the visually impaired by
providing them accurate and real-time information of obstacles in their way. Our design will use
AR softwares to retrieve essential information on obstacles, and Tanvas’ technology to
Tcommunicate the information to the users. Finally, the design will meet legal guidelines for it to
be trusted by visually impaired users.
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

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 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Appendices
Appendix A. Mobile & Tablet iOS version worldwide market share
Between constraints, there is a section which refers to compatibility of design to legacy
operating systems. As market share of iOS is measured by each minor version, it was not
possible to get portion of iOS users who use iOS 7.1 or above. More specific data could be
found in the table below.

iOS Market Share iOS Market Share iOS Market Share

Version Perc. (Sept Version Perc. (Sept Version Perc. (Sept 2017
2017 - Sept 2017 - Sept - Sept 2018)
2018) 2018)

iOS 11.2 22.77 iOS 7.1 0.84 iOS 9.0 0.15

iOS 10.3 18.8 iOS 12.0 0.57 iOS 6.0 0.15

iOS 11.4 14.29 iOS 7.0 0.51 iOS 8.0 0.12

iOS 11.0 10.17 iOS 9.2 0.42 iOS 5.0 0.11

iOS 11.3 9.63 iOS 8.1 0.37 iOS 8.2 0.08

iOS 11.1 8.39 iOS 8.4 0.36 iOS 4.3 0.06

iOS 9.3 5.49 iOS 5.1 0.26 iOS 3.2 0.03

iOS 10.2 3.49 iOS 9.1 0.26 iOS 4.2 0.02

iOS 10.1 1.13 iOS 8.3 0.23 iOS 4.0 0.01

iOS 10.0 1.05 iOS 6.1 0.21 Other 0.02

Appendix B: Pairwise comparison of objectives

O1 - O2 - Fast O3 - Easy to O4 - Data Score

Accurate and use friendly
Responsive

O1 - 1 0 0 1
Accurate

O2 - Fast 0 0 0 0
and
Responsive

O3 - Easy to 1 1 0 2
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

use

O4 - Data 1 1 1 3
friendly

Appendix C. Morph Chart

In this chart, there are between two and four ideas generated for each secondary function. As a
result, eight ideas were generated excluding overlapped ideas.

Secondary Idea for each secondary function

Function

Retrieve Use Augmented Compare size of Connect device

information Reality (AR) obstacle with with CCTV by
about platforms to other internet, and
obstacles from measure standard-sized measure rough
the street dimension objects dimension of
obstacle by
CCTV

To indicate Use Augmented Use IR sensor to Use external Use real-time

distance from Reality (AR) measure distance measurement satellite image to
the obstacles platforms to tool (laser) to locate obstacles
measure measure
distance distance

To indicate the Use Tanvas Use vibration

size or technology to sensor to indicate
dimension of indicate speed and
the obstacles dimension and dimension of
texture of obstacle
obstacle

Appendix D. Multi-voting process for ideas generated from free brainstorming and morph
chart
The ideas are generated by free brainstorming of members and morph chart (Appendix C).
Then, each member voted for up to seven ideas which are realistic and able to serve functions.
Including overlapping ideas, 36 ideas have been generated, and ten of them were chosen.
Jes - Jesryl Emmanuelle Calalang
Jus - Jiale Zhong (Justin)
Dan - Daniel-Yu Chun Chen
Fel - Wenyang Fan (Felix)
Dav - Myeong Hun Song (David)
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Idea Jes Jus Dan Fel Dav Score

1. Use robot ball to track the X 1

pathway of visually impaired users
and obstacles at the same time (O)

2. Radar that uses sound wave to x X x 3

detect incoming objects or obstacles
(Echolocation) (O)

3. Sensor in shoe that stops user’s x x X 3

movement when approaching an
obstacle (O)

4. Use external measurement tool x x x 3

(laser) to measure distance (O)

5. Most visually impaired do not x x X 3

want to be recognized as visually
impaired, use glasses that have
internally installed camera to detect
obstacles. (O)

6. Install detectors in public ground x 1

and update instant feedback to the
users’ device through wifi or
bluetooth (O)

7. Use real-time satellite image to x x X 3

locate obstacles (O)

8. Use Tanvas technology to indicate X 1

dimension and texture of obstacle
(O)

9. Connect device with CCTV by x x X 3

internet, and measure rough
dimension of obstacle by CCTV (O)

10. Use Augmented Reality (AR) x x X 3

Platforms to measure Dimension and
distance (O)

Use TTS-based sound to notify the

dimension and distance of obstacle

Install a camera on wildlife animals to

detect obstacles
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Install camera on users’ clothes or

head, and detect obstacle by pairing
camera to phone

Use cane to detect obstacle and texture

of pathway

Use mini drones to track the pathway of

users and obstacles at the same time

Put a bird on screen. The size of bird /

sound intensity of tweet indicates size
of obstacle, and time difference
between two tweet indicate distance
between user and obstacle. (The bird
flies to obstacle, and return back to
user)

Put camera on glasses to detect overla

distance and size of obstacles pped
(probably google glasses?)

Implement a camera on a hat, the hat

will recognize the distance and
obstacles.

A pin (like the ones that spies have)

with a hidden camera, which is paired
to the user’s device.

A real-life sized robot that will guide the overla

user. pped

A wheelchair that is programmed to

bring user to destination with a built in
camera, and it will avoid obstacles in
the way. Also, the user will not even
have to walk!

A cyborg dog. The dog will be put on a

leash and will avoid obstacles, and bark
if there is any hazard.

Noise cancelling headphones that are

paired with a random camera. User will
be given verbal instructions clearly.

A flashlight that has a built in sensor. It

 Engineering Strategies and Practice

will detect any upcoming obstacles and

give the distance as well.

AR camera that detects dimensions

and distance

Program that recognize obstacles in overla

real time from satellite images pped

Eye contacts that measures distance

and obstacles.

Use sound waves like a bat does to

detect obstacles

Use infrared camera to assist

identifying obstacles if the environment
provides insufficient lighting

Enable public closed circuit television to overla

help detect obstacles. pped

Use a white cane installed with camera

Use drones to scan the area overla

pped

Install cameras on wild dogs and cats overla

to scan the area pped

Use vibration sensor to indicate speed

and dimension of obstacle

Compare size of obstacle with other

standard-sized objects

Use IR sensor to measure distance overla

pped

Appendix E. Graphical Decision Chart

By using multi-vote method, 10 ideas were chosen. Those ideas are plotted in graphical
decision chart, to find out three best ideas. The first-order objective “accurate” is placed at the
x-axis, and the second objective “Fast and Responsive” is placed at the y-axis.
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

Appendix F. Weighted Decision Matrix

Three best ideas are chosen from graphical decision chart (Appendix E), and they are combined
with idea “Use Tanvas Technology to indicate obstacles” to meet client’s demand. Each ideas
are then assessed by four objectives, weighted by importance.

Objectives Weight Scores (Each idea is integrated with “Use Tanvas Technology
to indicate obstacles”)

Echolocation CCTV live Use Augmented Reality

recordings (AR) Platforms

O1 - Accurate x0.4 3 2 3

O2 - Fast and x0.3 2 3 3

Responsive
 Engineering Strategies and Practice

O3 - Less control x0.2 2 2 3

O4 - Less data x0.1 3 1 4

usage

Total 1.0 2.5 2.2 3.1

0 - Inadequate, 1- Weak, 2 - Satisfactory, 3- Good, 4- Excellent