Prototype glasses help the visually impaired avoid obstacles

The crafty engineers at Google aren't the only ones working on augmented reality glasses. Researchers at the Instituto de Oftalmología Aplicada have created a prototype system, based around a head-mounted display and a pair of small cameras. Instead of overlaying info about landmarks or capturing video of your trampoline-based escapades, this prototype is simply meant to help the visually impaired detect and avoid obstacles. A small computer performs real-time analysis of the environment highlighting objects and color coding them to indicate distance. The goal is to help those with glaucoma and other impairments that hinder depth perception. The next step is to streamline the device, making the computer portion of it smaller and more portable and to make the goggles less cumbersome. For more detail check out the source link.

Prototype glasses help the visually impaired avoid obstacles originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 May 2012 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.