1 ABC!

“NOBSTACLE”
Social Background, Target & Motivation
With the rapid fall of eye health among people,
it can be said without doubt that more andmore individuals will be less likely to partake intheir communities and society in future
generations due to the inconvenience
regarding their lack of clear vision. The
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism published a report on the likelihood
and percentage of the elderly population to go
outside. The results were astonishing with only
52% of those 75 and older going out (1);Consider this and think of those who haveimpaired vision, resulting in loneliness andsolitude.
We want to assist people living in thoseconditions to enjoy fraternizing with theirfriends and community, and that’s why wecreated NOBSTACLE. Our goal is to be theguide to those familiar with their community. It
uses a camera and sensor technology to warn
users of obstacles that may get in their way.
We designed this tool for the elderly
population who are accustomed to theirneighborhoods and can navigate themselves
but are afraid of unexpected objects and new
dangers that they cannot see.
Product and Service Detailsa) Product
Nobstacle is a set of devices particularly forblind people that is attachable to his or her own
cane. It helps to prevent the user from
unexpected collisions with passersby or any
obstacles in the path. To do so,

Nobstacle implements a stereo camera system
which anticipates obstacles around the user byusing two cameras. The incoming dangers will
be informed to the users.
b) Technologyb-1) Camera
NOBSTACLE utilizes the stereo camera system
in order to calculate the distance between theuser and objects or obstacles including smallsteps on the route. Stereo camera is a systemthat equips two cameras placed apart,
simulating the binocular sight of human vision,
which allows it to calculate the threedimensional measurements and distances. This
technology is applied to the preceding-vehicle
range-finding system, such as in the EyeSight
system of SUBARU that scans the road tosupport the driver (2). Unlike the existing
technology introduced to the driving assistance,
the cameras in NOBSTACLE are locatedvertically so that it fits on to the cane without
becoming a hinderance. The stereo camera
scans the direction of the travel and identifies
objects, steps, staircases, and human. After thestereo camera scanned the objects andobstacles within its sight, it calculates andtransmits the instruction to the neck speaker via
Bluetooth, notifying the user in order to avoid theobstacles on the route.
b-2) Speaker
Information from the camera system is received
by a wireless neck speaker worn by the user
through Bluetooth. Then the information isconverted into
an audiomessage that
describes
potential
dangers in theuser’ssurroundings.
If there was anincoming
person or any stairs or small steps on the roaddetected from the front, the speaker will notify
the user with a message. Upon receiving theinformation, the speaker will notify the user witha message such as “Incoming staircase 5meters ahead”. Upon informing the user aboutan “object” in the path of the user, the speaker
will describe the approximate location of theobject. The speaker’s volume will be easilyadjustable by the user with a volume knob
attached to the speaker. It should be noted herethat if adjusted correctly, the sound of thespeaker would only be audible by the user, andnot to the passersby. This will solve the problem
of vision impaired people who worry whether the
speaker’s voice would disturb the others.

touchpad which made our product more
affordable and easier to use.
Blind people who know route to destination cango easier by using Nobstacle. There are many
obstacles for blind people in town. When theblind person goes outside and uses theseproducts which are charged enough, he will beable to know whether he is close to an obstacle
or not because the cane senses it and the neckspeaker tells by sound. Because of this system,
the number of accidents involved blind people
will decrease.
Financial Plan

Our product comes with a charger cable that will
charge the camera and the speaker to its max
battery of 12 hours. When the charge is low, theuser will be notified by a message saying,“battery low”.
Marketing Strategya) Target Analysis
Currently in Japan, there are about 1,630,00
people who suffer from visual impairment,
unable to actively travel outside of their houses(3). The country is facing a serious aging of thepopulation and the number of the elderly isincreasing rapidly. On a larger scale, there are
2.2 billion people who are visually imparedworldwide, its demand increasing every year (4).
Our product, NOBSTACLE will enhance thesafeness that the general white cane provides to
its user, which will allow visually impared people
to be able to travel with more ease.
In the first year of marketing NOBSTACLE, it will
support Japanese and English, as they are themost used language in Japan. Then the productwill begin its support on other major languages
in the 3rd year and will keep on increasingsupport on other languages later.
b) Marketability
Nobstacle is available for 25,000 yen per unit.
With its affordable pricing and usage easy tounderstand, the company hopes our product will
be used by many people with visual impairment
as possible and will support their own efficient
travel.
We eliminated complex systems for elderly suchas navigation systems, applications, andIn the first 2 years, we will sell ourproduct in Japan. In the first year, weestimate 10 % of elderly people inJapan who have visual impairment(65~) to buy Nobstacle (5). In thesecond year, we expect 30 % of ourcustomers to buy Nobstacle since its
expected popularity among people
who have visual impairment in Japanas a result of our advertisement. In thethird year, we will begin to sell ourproducts throughout the world.
References(1) http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/00117
6318.pdf(2)https://www.subaru.jp/say/eyesight/(3)https://code.kzakza.com/2018/05/gankaikai_p
opu/(4)https://dime.jp/genre/796441/(5)https://orthokeratology.jp/kinshiincrease/