IANS

Washington, Jul 16: A student team in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering is providing the blind with an opportunity many never thought possible -- the opportunity to drive.

A retrofitted four-wheel dirt buggy, designed by them, uses laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a host of other innovative, cutting-edge technology to guide blind drivers as they steer, brake, and accelerate.

Although it is in the early testing stage, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) -- which spurred the project -- considers the vehicle a major breakthrough for independent living of the visually impaired.

"It was great!" said Wes Majerus, of Baltimore, the first blind person to drive the buggy on a closed course at the Virginia Tech campus this summer.

Majerus called his drive a liberating experience. Sitting inside the vehicle, a blind driver can turn the steering wheel, stop and accelerate by following data from a computing unit that uses sensory information from the laser range finder serving as the 'eyes' of the driver, besides a combination of voice commands and a vibrating vest as guides.

"It's a great first step," Majerus added. "As far as the differences between human instructions and those given by the voice in the Blind Driver Challenge car, the car's instructions are very precise."

"You use the technology to act on the environment -- the driving course -- in a very orderly manner. In some cases, the human passenger will be vague, "turn left" -- does that mean just a small turn to the left, or are we going for large amounts of turn," said Majerus.

Also driving the vehicle was Mark Riccobono, from Baltimore, the executive director of the Jernigan Institute, who also is blind. He called his test drive historic. "This is sort of our going to the moon project," he said.

In 2004 Jernigan Institute challenged university research teams to develop a vehicle that would one day allow the blind to drive. Virginia Tech was the only university in the nation to accept the non-profit institution's call two years later, said Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Lab, part of Virginia Tech.