Fiducials marks detection to assist visually impaired people navigation

Assistive technology enables people to achieve independence in the accomplishment of their daily tasks and enhance their quality of life. Visual information is the basis for most navigational tasks, so visually impaired individuals are at disadvantage due to the lack of information or given unsufficient information about their surrounding environment. With the recent advances in inclusive technology it is possible to extend the support given to people with visual disabilities during their mobility. In this context we propose and describe the SmartVision project, whose global objective is to assist visually impaired people in their navigation through unknown indoor and outdoor environments. This paper is focused mainly on the Computer Vision module of the SmartVision prototype, were we propose a new algorithm to recognise fiducials marks suitably placed on sidewalks, revealing to be a promising solution.