  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.
