The present invention provides a device for assisting a person in determining the presence or identity of obstacles in the person's path, characterized by a housing, a laser projector for generating a laser pattern in a surface in said person's path, a receiver for at least receiving a plurality of images of the laser pattern reflected from the surface and for generating a signal corresponding to said laser pattern reflection and a processor for processing said signal to at least determine the presence or identity of an object, and a warning generator for generating a warning to the person. The present invention also provides a method for assisting a person in determining the presence of an object in a person's path comprising generating a laser pattern comprising a plurality of laser lines on a surface, distinguishing between one or more straight line segments in the laser pattern and distorted line segments of said laser pattern after they are reflected from said surface and evaluating the distortions in said line segments of said laser pattern to determine the presence or identity of an object in the person's path. The present invention can be used to assist the visually impaired in seeing objects in their path or can be used by a sighted user in game play or at night for detecting obstacles. Some of the functions of the present device can be provided in a smart phone which can be adapted with a laser projection as a separate attachment or as part of the smart phone circuitry.