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blind posts

Intel Reader reads books to the lazy and infirm (video)

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 10th 2009 at 9:59AM

While we're busying ourselves with arguing about how to replace the perfectly usable book gadget, Intel is right to point out that plenty of people, for whatever reason, can't read at all. Presenting its Reader as a necessity rather than luxury, Intel has shown off its vision for how visually impaired and dyslexic people can obtain access to the written word. Combining a text-scanning camera with a text-to-speech engine (powered by an Atom inside) is certainly no bad idea, but as the video beyond the break will show you, Intel's execution isn't exactly stellar. The arrhythmic, robotic reading from Alice In Wonderland left us shaken, but what floored us was the $1,499 asking price. Yes, it's a customized niche device, but we reckon we could build something similar for a third of the price. Full PR and video after the break.

Continue reading Intel Reader reads books to the lazy and infirm (video)

In Japan, nerds control girls with joysticks

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 4:43AM

For some of you, like this guy (look at his face!), this is a dream come true, no questions asked. The rest will be wondering what the hell is going on here. See, that bicycle helmet affixed with what looks like a robotic crab is a not so subtle, ear tugging navigational device that could ultimately benefit the sight-impaired or anyone, really -- it pulls on the left ear to direct the wearer to the left, on the right to go right. Simple. Granted, it looks ridiculous now, but imagine it miniaturized under a tin-foil helmet and communicating with a hands- and eyes-free GPS navigational system. You've just seen the future, how does it feel?

Gallery: In Japan, nerds control girls with joysticks

MIT students develop new 6dot braille labelmaker prototype

by Laura June posted Sep 26th 2009 at 4:37AM

A group of students at MIT have just unveiled a new prototype of a braille labelmaker / printer, the 6dot. Though not the first, the MIT group's model is apparently more advanced, easier to use, and cheaper than currently available models. Designed with the blind and visually impaired in mind, the labelmaker features an around the neck strap, and six buttons (for each of the dots of a braille character), allowing quick production of accurate labels, including contractions. The internal processor of the device can store up to 16 characters, and "prints" the characters onto adhesive label paper, which the user can then affix for easy identification of household items, such as medications, canned goods, and so on. Though it's still in prototype phase, it's possible the device could cost as little as $200 when it does hit the market.

[Via Coolest Gadgets]

Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out

by Vladislav Savov posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 6:25AM

Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. It's a real procedure that really does revive people's ability to see, yet we get the feeling that people will be more, um, excited about how it's done than why it's done. The seemingly Mary Shelley-inspired doctors extract a tooth from a blind person and drill a hole through it, where a prosthetic lens is placed, and the resulting macabre construction is implanted into the blind person's eye. The tooth is necessary as the body would reject an artificial base. It's not at all pretty, and it cannot repair every type of blindness, but it's still a major step forward. To hear from Sharron Thornton, the first American to have undergone the procedure, check the video after the break, but only if you can handle mildly graphic content -- you've been warned.

[Via Daily Tech]

Continue reading Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out

BrainPort lets you see with your tongue, might actually make it to market

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 14th 2009 at 2:10PM

We first saw the crazy BrainPort in 2006, but the intervening time hasn't been wasted by its developers, who've brought the quirky visual aid to the cusp of commercial viability. If you'll recall, the device translates signals from a head-mounted camera to electrical pulses that lightly zap your tongue in response to visual stimuli -- early results have shown people can regain a good bit of their spatial awareness and even read large writing. The next step is FDA approval, which is expected by year's end, meaning that the BrainPort could arrive as early as 2010. There is a steep entry fee though, with prices expected to begin at $10,000, but the very fact you'll be able to buy it is a milestone in our book. Edifying video after the break.

[Thanks, Toy]

Continue reading BrainPort lets you see with your tongue, might actually make it to market

Laser-equipped Virginia Tech dirt buggy can be driven by the blind

by Darren Murph posted Jul 18th 2009 at 6:29AM

And you thought those self-driving whips in DARPA's Urban Challenge were hot stuff. As the mighty Hokies look to prove their dominance in the field of engineering, a student team from Virginia Tech has assembled what amounts to a vehicle that can actually be driven by blind individuals. In short, the specially equipped dirt buggy is outfitted with an array of laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a few other related systems that enable drivers to respond to whatever the vehicle "sees." Best of all, the project is far beyond the drawing board, with a blind driver (Wes Majerus) already singing praises about the vehicle and deeming it a "liberating" experience. Regrettably, there's no information on what the team plans to do with the vehicle going forward, but we do know it hopes to pass along the same technology to more street-legal motorcars.

[Thanks, Trisha]

DeafBlind Communicator helps deaf / blind individuals communicate

by Darren Murph posted Jun 8th 2009 at 12:15AM

Every so often, we stumble upon a new piece of technology designed to assist deaf and / or blind individuals, but we've yet to see a creation so complete as this. HumanWare, working in tandem with the Washington State Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing, has concocted a DeafBlind Communicator to provide a trio of communication options to handicapped individuals: face-to-face-, TTY and SMS. The DBS system consists of two separate components -- the BrailleNote and a DB-Phone, the latter of which is a specially designed handset with a QWERTY keyboard and unique software that helps the deaf-blind community converse with bus drivers, waiters, friends, family, etc. The Braille menus enable those folks to easily strike up conversations and live life more easily, and it seems as if sales inquiries are being fielded as we speak.

[Thanks, Drew]

Braille e-reader concept can't be far from reality

by Darren Murph posted Apr 20th 2009 at 4:22AM

The technology's already here, we just need a venture capital firm and a determined entrepreneur to make it happen. A foursome of designers -- Seon-Keun Park, Byung-Min Woo, Sun-Hye Woo and Jin-Sun Park -- have banded together to create the above pictured concept, an e-reader for those with limited or no vision. Their Braille E-Book concept theoretically relies on electroactive polymers in order to change the surface's shape as pages are turned, and while we fully expect the battery life to suffer due to all the necessary commotion, it's definitely a start that needs to happen.

Researchers develop braille for vibrating touchscreen devices

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Mar 31st 2009 at 11:23AM

In braille, a character is made up of six dots laid out on a two by three matrix -- not something that can really be conveyed using capacitive touchscreen technology. Working with a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, researchers in Finland have developed a method for piezoelectric touchscreen devices that uses a single pulse of intense vibration to convey a raised dot, and a longer vibration made up of several weaker pulses to represent a missing dot -- spelling out letters that can be easily read by touch. It took a while for volunteers to get used to this method, but once they had they were able to read a character in as little as 1.25 seconds. Now that they have letters down, the team is moving on to words and sentences -- with an eye towards developing text-to-braille software sometime in the future.

Silicone Touch: an iPhone case for the visually impaired

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Dec 1st 2008 at 4:58PM

The iPhone has never seemed a likely contender as a smart phone for the blind (it's certainly not designed for touch typing), which makes this case by designer Bruno Fosi all the more impressive. The Silicone Touch covers the phone's screen and features a selection of bas-relief buttons that correspond to menu items in a custom app, allowing those with diminished sight access to all the phone's functions, including multi-touch and finger flick scrolling. Right now it's just a concept, but we're hoping to see this one become a reality sooner rather than later.

[Via Yanko Design]

Touch Sight camera for the blind displays photos using Braille

by Nilay Patel posted Aug 13th 2008 at 7:41PM

Gadgets for the visually impaired are nothing new, but the Touch Sight camera is one of the most unique we've seen. Designed to be held against the forehead, the camera doesn't have an LCD, but instead displays a three-dimensional representation of the image on a built-in Braille screen and records three seconds of audio to assist users in locating and managing shots. Just a concept for now, but let's hope it makes it to market -- it seems like it'd be a fun toy for the sighted as well.

Bio-electronic implant seeks to restore partial sight

by Darren Murph posted Mar 12th 2008 at 10:18AM

We've seen initiatives all over the globe created in an attempt to beat blindness, but researchers based at MIT are feeling fairly confident that their development is within a few years of being able to "restore partial sight to people who have slowly gone blind because of degenerative diseases of the retina." The bio-electronic implant, which is about the size of a pencil eraser, would actually sit behind the retina at the back of the eyeball, and images would be transmitted to the brain "via a connector the width of a human hair." As it stands, an FDA grant application is already in the works, and the scientists are hoping to have it implanted in an animal as early as this summer. Still, the solution only works for folks who "were once able to see and have partially intact optic nerve cells" -- those who were blind from birth or suffer from glaucoma are unfortunately ineligible for the procedure.

[Thanks, Rusty]

Tactile Wand concept aims to aid the visually impaired

by Donald Melanson posted Mar 7th 2008 at 2:39AM

We've seen plenty of gadgets designed to aid the visually impaired, but none quite like this so-called "Tactile Wand" concept from designer Jin Woo Han, who's no stranger to nifty concept devices. Obviously taking a few cues from another familiar "wand," this would-be device employs a sensor on the front to determine the distance to the object it's pointed at, which gets relayed to the user in the form of varying levels of vibration. Needless to say, there's no indication of it actually moving beyond the concept stage, but it certainly doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility.

[Via OhGizmo]

Zen concept PC caters to visually impaired

by Darren Murph posted Feb 28th 2008 at 3:03AM

There's hardly a shortage of pocketable devices for the blind, but the Zen is lookin' out for the visually impaired who crave a more full-fledged computing experience. Essentially, the Sandbox PC (hardware) and Zen (operating system) would team up to "create a computing environment that could be used with eyes closed." More specifically, it would utilize an Active Surface for displaying text in Braille and producing images, windows and icons that could be felt. No word on whether this contraption would handle other tasks such as reading one's e-mail aloud or enabling the blind to still participate in Hot or Not, but nevertheless, it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Japan's AMEDIA shows off 18 new devices for the visually impaired

by Joshua Topolsky posted Dec 27th 2007 at 2:43AM

A trade show held in Japan recently called AMEDIA showed off 18 new products aimed at helping the visually impaired better utilize technology. Among the devices on offer were an adaptive Braille display, which can convert text from a PC screen into the hand-read alphabet in real time, the REHA Vision "Color Talk," a handheld scanner which can recognize 220 colors and speak them to the user, and what appears to be GW Micro's VoiceSense PDA (here being employed to help those with visual impairments in the IT sector). The collection of gadgets clearly illustrates the kind of time and energy being put into making modern technology more accessible to everyone. Hit the read link for a (translated) tour of the show.