In today's society, where independent living is becoming increasingly important, it can be extremely constricting for those who are blind. Blind and visually impaired (BVI) people face challenges because they need manual support to prompt information about their environment. In this work, we took our first step towards developing an affordable and high-performing eye wearable assistive device, DRISHTI, to provide visual navigation assistance for BVI people. This system comprises a camera module, ESP32 processor, Bluetooth module, smartphone and speakers. Using artificial intelligence, this system is proposed to detect and understand the nature of the users' path and obstacles ahead of the user in that path and then inform BVI users about it via audio output to enable them to acquire directions by themselves on their journey. This first step discussed in this paper involves establishing a proof-of-concept of achieving the right balance of affordability and performance by testing an initial software integration of a currency detection algorithm on a low-cost embedded arrangement. This work will lay the foundation for our upcoming works toward achieving the goal of assisting the maximum of BVI people around the globe in moving independently.

翻译：在当前独立生活日益重要的社会中，盲人群体常面临巨大束缚。盲人与低视力（BVI）人群因需要人工支持来获取环境信息而面临诸多挑战。本研究迈出了开发低成本、高性能可穿戴眼部辅助设备DRISHTI的第一步，旨在为BVI人群提供视觉导航辅助。该系统由摄像头模组、ESP32处理器、蓝牙模组、智能手机及扬声器构成。我们提出基于人工智能的框架，通过检测并理解用户行进路径特征及前方障碍物性质，继而通过音频输出向BVI用户传递信息，使其能够在出行途中自主获取方向指引。本文阐述的首阶段工作包括：通过在低成本嵌入式平台上集成货币检测算法的初始软件测试，验证性价比最优平衡点的可行性。该研究将为后续实现"助力全球最大规模BVI人群独立出行"目标的系列工作奠定基础。