Revolutionary Artificial Intelligence App Will Aid Visually Impaired People In A Big Way

Imagine living a life where the challenge of each day lies in navigating your way to each destination riddled with at least some anxiety that you may cause disruption to the environment around yourself? It goes without saying that differently-abled people are often completely independent, especially when raised without fear and constant monitoring, however, in a world that doesn’t necessarily favour smaller numbers, it will always be ‘easier’ to simply be like everybody else.
As per 2007 statistics, according to a TOI report, of the 37 million people across the globe who are blind, over 15 million are from India. What’s worse is that 75% of these are cases of avoidable blindness due to the country’s acute shortage of optometrists and a lack of eye donors.
Until a more assuring permanent solution is found, researchers are looking at options that can provide temporary aid to these individuals. Many applications have been developed in the past that focus only on one particular aspect. For example Ariadne GPS Ariadne GPS is a new app that allows you to explore the world by moving your finger around the map, or LookTel Money Reader helps impaired people understand their money denominations. Still, most of these applications come at a premium price.
But imagine having an application that fulfills almost every need for free. Developers based in Egypt have created an ios application called Eyesense using artificial intelligence. This application has the ability to learn objects in the environment with repeated exposure to it. Objects are displayed in front of the screen in several angles allowing the application to study it. It is also moved away or replaced with another object so that application can grasp the difference between the two
For example, after thorough learning the application will be able to identify the difference between your pair of keys and the neighbour’s. All the user needs to do is point the device in the direction they think something might be and the application will recognize the object for them.

“The key strength of the app is that it also recognizes basic facial expressions, like winks or smiles. This enhances human interaction,” says Joanna Marczak, a spokesperson for its developer, ID Labs in an interview with fact coexist.
This application was developed over discussions with visually challenged people and the withdrawals they experienced in their daily life. Marczak the application developer mentions, “It’s like a new born baby and is learning all the time as you show it objects.’’
Another application on similar lines has been developed called Aipoly, which is advanced enough to recognize clothing, colours and abstract art. Eyesense is yet to launch in the market but Aipoly is available for free on ios. Both these applications will soon be available on android and other user interchanges.

Words: Niketa Mohan

Feature courtesy: New Grad Optometry