Accessibility-First Emergency Response Ecosystem for Visually Impaired Individuals
Supported by the IEEE Sensors Council Industry Mentoring Program.
Our goal is not to build another emergency app.
We are building an accessibility-first emergency response ecosystem that enables visually impaired individuals to request help instantly and ensures that caregivers coordinate an effective response until the user is safe.
Visually impaired individuals face three critical challenges during emergencies because existing systems assume users can quickly locate, unlock, and operate a smartphone:
- Emergency Activation: Locating or operating a digital screen during a high-stress crisis is nearly impossible without sight.
- Response Assurance: After triggering an SOS, users often have zero feedback on whether help is actually coming, leading to extreme anxiety.
- Caregiver Coordination: Multiple family members may receive alerts simultaneously, but without coordination, response is often delayed or redundant.
KAAVAL (Sahaaya) manages the complete emergency response workflow — from instant activation to caregiver acknowledgement and incident closure.
The Differentiator: While standard systems send a message, KAAVAL coordinates the response.
- ⌚ Tactile Wearable: A Bluetooth-enabled locket with a dedicated SOS button and haptic feedback.
- 📱 User Application: A voice-first, high-contrast Android app optimized for TalkBack and gesture control.
- 👨👩👧 Caregiver Network: A coordination platform for family, NGOs, and mentors to acknowledge alerts and track live ETA.
- ☁️ Cloud Coordination: A real-time engine managing incident state and caregiver routing.
- Visually Impaired Individuals: Students and adults who require a reliable, non-visual way to call for help.
- Family & Caregivers: Immediate emergency contacts.
- Educational Institutions: Schools and NGOs for the visually impaired.
- Security Teams: Campus security or local first responders.
- 📱 Live Interactive Web Simulator: https://kaaval-94c1d.web.app
- 📡 Caregiver Live Location Portal: https://kaaval-94c1d.web.app/live
- Repository structure, Android Compose shell, Room DB local persistence, Firebase setup, and local web simulator.
- ✅ Task 2.1 — High-Contrast Accessibility Theme: Material 3 Pure Black (
#000000) & KAAVAL Yellow (#FFD600) design system, typography, and shapes (THEME_ACCESSIBILITY.md). - ✅ Task 2.2 — TalkBack Accessibility: Full Jetpack Compose Semantics, explicit
contentDescription,Role.Button/Role.Tab, and dynamicstateDescriptionannouncements (TALKBACK_ACCESSIBILITY.md). - ✅ Task 2.3 — Voice Feedback Engine:
VoiceFeedbackManagerSingleton engine, TextToSpeech integration, queued & priority announcements, English baseline & Malayalam-ready architecture (VOICE_FEEDBACK.md). - ✅ Task 2.4 — Haptic Feedback Engine:
HapticFeedbackManagerSingleton engine,VibratorManager(API 31+) &Vibratorfallback (API 26+), 14HapticPatternwaveforms (HAPTIC_FEEDBACK.md).
The KAAVAL standalone Android application is fully functional and active for student field-testing. Detailed breakdown available in docs/STATUS.md.
| Component | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SOS Engine | ✅ COMPLETE | Unified trigger logic (Volume Up x3, English/Malayalam Voice, On-screen hold/cancel). |
| User Feedback | ✅ COMPLETE | Synchronized multi-language TTS, custom haptics, and classroom Discreet Mode. |
| Coordination | ✅ COMPLETE | Closed-loop SMS reply detection ("OK"/"Coming") & continuous Tactile Heartbeat. |
| Emergency Intelligence | ✅ COMPLETE | 15s Audio Witness, 5% Battery Guardian alert, and Instant GPS Fallback. |
| Hardware Bridge | 🟡 PENDING | KaavalBleManager GATT client built; awaiting physical wearable module for UUID pairing. |
| AI Integration | 🟡 BACKLOG | Analyzer class ready; API key integration saved for subsequent phase. |
| Testing Ready | 🚀 ACTIVE | Standalone software is operational and ready for student user testing. |
- 🔊 Synchronized Audio/Haptics: Audio countdown synced with vibration pulses.
- 🔕 Discreet Mode: Classroom mode switching voice alerts to private tactile ticks.
- 🗣️ "Listen" Mode: Audio reader for Medical Profile clinical data.
- 🎙️ Multi-Trigger Redundancy: English ("HELP", "SOS") & Malayalam ("Sahayam") voice + Volume Up x3 key.
- 💓 Tactile Heartbeat: Continuous reassurance pulse for active emergency response.
- 📩 Offline SMS Reply Detection: Closed-loop automatic reply detection for "OK"/"Coming".
- 🎙️ Audio Witness & Battery Guardian: 15s automatic audio recording + 5% low battery emergency alert.
android/— Kotlin / Jetpack Compose Android Application (MVVM, Clean Architecture, Hilt, Room, Fused Location).functions/— Firebase Cloud Functions for incident coordination & notifications.tracking-web/— Web portal for live location tracking & caregiver dashboard.firebase/— Firebase security rules, cloud architecture, & emulator config.docs/— Official Project & Engineering Documentation Hub.
- Software Lead & Builder: Kevin George
- Hardware & Electrical Engineering Team: Navami, Adwaid, Jewel (Electrical & Electronics Engineering)
- Program Mentorship: Supported by the IEEE Sensors Council Industry Mentoring Program with OpenAI API & Codex support.