Contents
American researchers have developed a cane for the visually impaired based on artificial intelligence
What’s going on
- A team of researchers from Stanford University has unveiled a self-navigating smart cane for visually impaired people. This development is based on the use of tools from autonomous vehicles.
- The unit allows you to detect and identify obstacles, easily move around these objects and follow routes both indoors and outdoors. The cane uses a LIDAR sensor to measure the distance to nearby obstacles and then guides the user along the best path.
- The cane can be assembled by yourself at home, in addition, the developers have made free and open source software.
- Its cost reaches $400, so the smart cane is a convenient and inexpensive option compared to similar products on the market.
- According to preliminary estimates, the development will be able to increase the walking speed of visually impaired people by about 20%. The researchers hope their device will become an affordable and useful option for visually impaired people around the world.
What does it mean
Millions of people around the world suffer from severe visual impairments that prevent them from leading a full and healthy life. However, with the rapid development of modern technology, many companies are working to find effective solutions for the blind and visually impaired people.
For example, Microsoft has developed the Seeing AI application based on artificial intelligence, which reflects the world around it, describing it in words. The program facilitates the daily life of blind people: it can read restaurant menus, identify road signs, recognize faces, and so on.
eSight, in turn, created smart glasses for visually impaired people – the built-in processor processes the data captured by the camera and enhances the brightness and contrast of the image, thereby making it clearer. Smart glasses are suitable for people with more than 20 different eye conditions, including cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and Stargardt’s disease.