ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-BASED SYSTEM TO HELP BLIND PEOPLE

Abstract

The article reveals development of a support system based on the artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to help the blind and visually impaired people. This system is effective in implementing of the following tasks: object recognition, measurement of distances towards obstacles, and text recognition.
Machine learning algorithms were used for object recognition and obstacle distance measurement, optical character recognition algorithms for text recognition in the image, and text analysis algorithms for voice representation of the identified results. The main goal is to help blind and partially sighted people to realize their environment, communicate with people and move independently, as well as improve their social activities. One of the urgent problems in our republic is the development of software tools that will be easy in use, affordable and effective in Uzbek for the blind. Findings from the research into identifying objects and texts by means of developed algorithms were 92.16% and 99.87%, respectively.
Maximum deviation of the obstacle distance measurement compared to the one measured by mobile application was 6.32%. Such findings show that the proposed support system ensures reliable performance similar to commercial devices. It meets basic requirements of everyday life that benefit safety and well-being of visually impaired people.