iCan: Enhancing Navigation for the Visually Impaired

Built as a voice-first mobility aid, iCan combines a smart cane, wearable camera module, and iPhone app to improve navigation and situational awareness for blind and low-vision users. The cane uses ultrasonic sensors, an 8×8 ToF distance sensor, IMU data, and haptic feedback to detect nearby obstacles, identify direction and urgency, and support fall detection. The iCan Eye wearable camera connects to the iOS app over BLE, enabling AI-powered scene descriptions that are delivered through text-to-speech. Together, the system demonstrates an integrated assistive platform that expands beyond traditional cane navigation by adding upper-body obstacle awareness, spoken environmental context, diagnostics, and caretaker-oriented safety features.