Augmented reality navigation system for visual prosthesis

The visual functions of visual prostheses such as field of view, resolution and dynamic range, seriously restrict the person's ability to navigate in unknown environments. Implanted patients still require constant assistance for navigating from one location to another. Hence, there is a need for a system that is able to assist them safely during their journey. In this work, we propose an augmented reality navigation system for visual prosthesis that incorporates a software of reactive navigation and path planning which guides the subject through convenient, obstacle-free route. It consists on four steps: locating the subject on a map, planning the subject trajectory, showing it to the subject and re-planning without obstacles. We have also designed a simulated prosthetic vision environment which allows us to systematically study navigation performance. Twelve subjects participated in the experiment. Subjects were guided by the augmented reality navigation system and their instruction was to navigate through different environments until they reached two goals, cross the door and find an object (bin), as fast and accurately as possible. Results show how our augmented navigation system help navigation performance by reducing the time and distance to reach the goals, even significantly reducing the number of obstacles collisions, compared to other baseline methods.