Researchers at MIT's Media Lab are developing EyeRing, a wearable device that displays information about an object by simply using your finger to point at.
The EyeRing features a sturdy plastic case made with 3D printing and ABS nylon. It contains a small VGA camera, a 16 MHz AVR processor, a Bluetooth radio module and a Li-ion battery. There's also a mini-USB port for charging the battery and reprogramming the unit, a power on/off button to activate commands with the thumb.
The wearer simply points at an object and says what they want to know via a microphone attached to earphones, and then presses the button on the side of the ring.
The camera takes a photo and sends the image to a smartphone via Bluetooth. An Android application installed on the smartphone analyzes the image based on the selected setting, and then uses a Text-to-Speech module to feed back to the user the information via earphones.
The EyeRing is still in the research phase. It can currently be used to identify currency, text, pricing and colors. The information is also displayed on the screen of the smartphone in text form.
The device can help people with visual impairments, but also useful for others. People with visual disabilities can use EyeRing to estimate free walking space. When two images are taken an algorithm to recover the depth is performed, the ring can calculate the distance between the two objects and creates a 3D map of the clear walking path in front.
The EyeRing system was created by Suranga Nanayakkara at Singapore University of Technology and Design, PhD student Roy Shilkrot at MIT Media Lab and associate professor Pattie Maes, a Belgian computer scientist and founder of the Fluid Interfaces Group.
Future versions of the system may include more sensors like gyroscopes, real-time video feed from the camera, higher computational power etc. it opens up a myriad of possible applications for the visually impaired as well as the sighted. It could serve as a navigation system for pedestrians when you walk around in a city, you can simply point at something and ask "What is that?".
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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