This paper proposes a stereovision-based assistive system for the visually impaired. The system is composed of a conventional white cane, stereoscopic cameras, keypad-type controller, tactile device, laptop computer, and so forth. The system can not only detect obstacles, but also recognize seats that a visually impaired user can use to take a rest. Ordinarily, a user can use the system as a white cane. When the user instructs the system to detect obstacles or to recognize seats in the

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... the system attempts to find such objects. If the target objects are found in the field of view of the stereoscopic cameras, the tactile device provides vibration feedback. The proposed system was applied to actual scenes that included obstacles or seats. The experimental results indicated that the proposed system is promising as means of helping visually impaired users find obstacles and seats.