Abstract:Robust navigational guidance is an important XR application for both sighted and non-sighted populations. In this paper, we mainly focus on blind pedestrians, who continue to face "last-mile" challenges such as locating entrances and navigating cluttered spaces. While smartglasses and wearables are maturing, a foundational design question remains underexplored: where on the body should cameras be placed to best support navigation? We present a mixed-methods investigation that focuses on the question of camera placement for generating spatial data supporting ego-centric navigation. A survey of 10 blind cane users surfaced practices for last-mile navigation and perceptions of body-mounted XR devices. A controlled case study with a blind co-author compared head- and cane-mounted cameras using synchronized Project Aria glasses while traversing five real-world environments. Using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) as diagnostic probes, we find the central trade-off appears to be not simply head versus cane but localization stability versus near-ground coverage, with the combined head+cane view providing complementary information for scene reconstruction. We translate these findings into architectural considerations for hybrid XR systems that extend the cane without interfering with tactile and auditory cues.
From: Apurv Varshney [view email]
[v1]
Sun, 27 Apr 2025 20:00:54 UTC (29,414 KB)
[v2]
Thu, 23 Jul 2026 04:08:46 UTC (12,874 KB)
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