Fingertip Camera Reads to the Blind

A group of scientists at the University of Maryland have come up with a novel solution to the problem of allowing the visually impaired to read.

The team, led by assistant professor of computer science Jon Froehlich, developed a device that allows blind people to read text without the aid of braille, which isn't always available.

Dubbed HandSight, the vision-augmented touch system features a tiny CMOS camera typically used for endoscopies and laparoscopic surgery. This is combined with micro-haptic actuators that allow the device to vibrate while remaining as small as possible.

The early-stage technology, according to New Scientist, slips onto the fingertip like a ring; additional pieces attach to the hand and wrist. As the user slides their finger over a non-tactile surface, such as the page of a book, a computer linked to the device recites each line of text. Pitch-controlled audio cues and vibration feedback help guide the reader across the page, alerting them to line breaks or the need to reposition their finger to continue reading.

A group of 19 blind people who tested the device using books and magazines managed to average a reading speed of between 63 and 81 words per minute.

Later versions of the wearable will use a smartwatch like the Samsung Galaxy Gear for power, processing, and audio, making for a more portable experience.

"Compared to handheld text scanners such as mobile phone applications, mounting a tiny camera on the user's own finger has the potential to mitigate camera framing issues, enable a blind reader to better understand the spatial layout of a document, and provide better control over reading pace," the team wrote in a recent study.

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The gadget was born in 2012 out of a class project in Froehlich's Tangible Interactive Computing graduate course. Two years later, it received a $1 million grant from the Department of Defense's US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to assist visually impaired veterans.

The research team's initial goal is to assist visually impaired folks in reading without braille. Eventually, though, they hope users will be able to touch a piece of clothing and hear suggestions for coordinating an outfit, or handle a piece of fruit to learn its color.