The document outlines the development of a smart glasses system designed for visually impaired individuals in Uganda, aimed at enhancing their ability to detect and navigate obstacles. It highlights the prevalence of blindness and low vision issues in the country and the need for accessible, affordable technology. The proposed prototype utilizes an object detection model with low-cost hardware components, providing an innovative solution to improve the quality of life for blind users.

1. A Smart Glasses System for the Blind using an Object Detection Model
By SSEMUJJU RAYMOND BU/UG/2020/1976

2. Outline:
• Introduction and background
•Problem Statement
•Significance
•Block Diagram
•Testing and validation

3. Introduction and Background:
• Blindness is a global health issue that affects millions of people around the world. According to the
World Health Organization, there were 39 million blind people and 246 million people with low
vision in 2010. According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, about 0.19%
of Uganda’s population is blind (83,000), and 1.10% has moderate to severe vision impairment
(475,965). Blindness and low vision can have significant impacts on the quality of life, education,
employment, and social inclusion of the affected individuals.

4. Background continued…
• To assist blind and low vision people, various technologies have been developed, such as white
canes, guide dogs, braille, and audio books. However, these technologies have some limitations,
such as requiring special training, or being expensive and inaccessible. Therefore, there is a need for
more advanced and affordable technologies that can help blind and low vision people to perceive
and interact with their environment.

5. Problem Statement:
• The problem that this project addresses is the inefficient accessibility and navigation for the visually
impaired people that results from their inability to perceive their surrounding environment.

6. Main Objective and Specific Objectives
• To design and implement a prototype of smart glasses for blind people in Uganda that can detect
and identify obstacles in their environment using an object detection model.

7. Significance of Proposed Solution
• It will enhance the accessibility and affordability of smart glasses for blind people, by designing and
implementing a device that is low-cost, lightweight, and offline.

8. Scope
• The smart glasses are based on low-cost and lightweight hardware, such as ESP32-CAM, Arduino
Nano, and an audio player as the main components.

9. Developed System
• The developed system is a prototype of smart glasses for blind people in Uganda that can detect
and help the visually impaired people avoid obstacles in their environment using an object detection
model. The system consists of three main components: the glasses, the microcontroller, and the
headphones.

10. Block Diagram of the System
•

11. Thank You for Listening