[vicsireland] Research enables the blind to find their way
- From: "Ciaran Ferry" <Ciaran.Ferry@xxxxxx>
- To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:10:34 -0000
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm/section/news/tpl/article/Br
owsingType/Features/ID/90170
"Eyes on the future" is the mantra of the 'World Sight Day' held this
month to raise awareness of blindness and vision impairment. New
technologies, developed
by European researchers offering the visually impaired greater
independence, live up to this vision.
Many of the most innovative systems have been created by a consortium of
companies and research institutes working in the
EU-funded
ENABLED project.
The project has led to 17 prototype devices and software platforms being
developed to help the visually impaired, two of which have been
patented.
Guide dogs, canes, Braille and screen readers that turn digital text
into spoken audio all help to improve the lives of the blind or severely
visually impaired,
but none of these tools can make up for having a friend or relative
accompany a blind person around and assist them in their daily life.
However, a human
helper is not always available.
"Blind people often have to rely on others to do things that we do
naturally... and that restricts their independence," explains Wai Yu,
the project's coordinator
and a researcher at the Virtual Engineering Centre at Queen's University
in Belfast.
Activities that the sighted take for granted, such as going for a walk
in the park or trying out a new restaurant, becomes an odyssey for the
visually impaired,
particularly when they do not already know the route by heart.
A guide dog can help them avoid dangers in the street, be it a curb or a
lamppost, but it cannot show them a new route. People can be asked for
directions,
but following them is another matter entirely when you cannot read
street signs or see landmarks.
Bridging the information gap
Those barriers have typically prevented the visually impaired from
exploring the world around them on their own, but now, with the new
technologies, they
can surmount some of these barriers.
"Our goal was to give blind people more independence by helping to
bridge the information gap with the sighted," Yu says.
To achieve that, the project partners worked in two broad areas. On the
one hand, they developed software applications with tactile, haptic and
audio feedback
devices to help visually impaired people feel and hear digital maps of
where they want to go. On the other hand, they created new haptic and
tactile devices
to guide them when they are out in the street.
Maps you can feel
One of the patented prototypes, called VITAL, allows users to access a
tactile map of an area. Using a device akin to a computer mouse they can
move a cursor
around the map and small pins will create shapes under the palm of their
hand.
The device could produce the sensation of a square block to define a
building, or form into different icons to depict different shops and
services - an
'H' for a hospital, for example.
"Braille readers and audio readers let blind people read or hear text
from computers and the internet, but until now there has been no easy or
practical
way to portray graphical information," Yu says. "We chose to work with
maps because they are particularly useful for visually impaired people."
Having obtained a 'mental image' of the map from the computer, users can
then take the route information with them when they venture outside. For
that purpose,
the project partners used a commercially available navigation aid called
the Trekker, which uses GPS to guide users as they walk around, much
like a navigation
system in a car.
An electronic guide
However, the Trekker gives only spoken directions, something that can be
disconcerting for blind people, who may not want to draw attention to
themselves.
The device can often be hard to hear in noisy, city environments.
The ENABLED team therefore developed prototypes to provide directions
through tactile and haptic feedback, rather than via audio alone.
One patented device developed by the project team, the VIFLEX, looks
similar to a TV remote control with a movable plate at the front. The
user rests his
thumb on the plate, which tilts in eight directions to guide users based
on the directions given by the Trekker.
"It is more discreet and natural than following audio commands," Yu
says.
The aim of the ENABLED team's research is not to replace tried and
tested aids for the blind, such as canes and guide dogs, but to
complement them with
new technologies that can improve the independence and autonomy of the
visually impaired.
For the visually impaired worldwide, such technologies should start to
become a reality over the coming years as the applications developed by
the ENABLED
team make their way into commercial products.
Ciaran Ferry
Web & e-Services,
ICT Group, ESB,
27 Lower Fitzwilliam St,
Dublin 2, Ireland.
Tel: +353-1-70(27945)
Email: Ciaran.Ferry@xxxxxx
Web: www.esb.ie
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