A three-year European collaborative project, Inspex, which aims to develop a wearable obstacle-detection system based on autonomous vehicle technology, has begun. The portable device could aid in smart manufacturing, guide robotic drones and assist the visually impaired.
Coordinated by Leti, a technology research institute of CEA Tech, and drawing on the expertise and technologies of nine partners, the Inspex system will employ lidar, UWB radar and MEMS ultrasound sensors to detect 3D obstacles in real-time, even in harsh weather conditions. Inspex will miniaturise and reduce the power consumption of each element to ease their integration in the new system.
The sensors will be co-integrated with an inertial measurement unit, environmental sensing, signal and data processing, and power efficient data fusion within a miniature, low-power system designed to operate within Internet of Things environments.
