An Aid System for Autonomous Mobility of Visually Impaired People on the Historical City Walls in Lucca, Italy

The research project “The Walls for All” (in Italian “Le Mura per Tutti”) aims at the realization of an aid system for visually impaired people, promoting autonomous mobility in a free time/cultural outdoor scenario. The selected installation site is a 4 km pedestrian and bike wide lane on top of the historical walls of Lucca city, Tuscany, Italy. The proposed system guides the user on predefined tracks (virtual path), realized by means of buried cables, that can be detected with the help of the Smart Cane, a traditional white cane equipped with custom electronics; and a mobile device featuring an ad-hoc developed Android application that provides geo-referenced guidance and context information. The system has been conceived, designed and successfully tested by visually impaired people of the Italian Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired—Section of Lucca.