The Indra-Adecco Foundation Chair of Research in Accessible Technologies at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) is developing an innovative augmented reality application that lets the visually impaired receive relevant information regarding their surroundings via vibrations and sounds from their smartphone. This will thus improve their spatial perception and orientation, thus helping them with adapting in the workplace and labour integration, since they can simply carry out tasks like planning a path through multiple moving obstacles and get information about the location and identity of people and objects at a distance.
In particular, the e-Glance proposal will enable:
- Blind people to actively explore the context of their surroundings and thus direct their attention on demand to specific areas beyond the reach of their hands or when their hearing or memory might prove to be inadequate or insufficient.
- The system alerts the user of events around the user's centre of attention in the peripheral areas.
With a view to furthering knowledge on the possible uses of this solution and analysing how to integrate it effectively in the workplace, the project has the participation of users and main beneficiaries, particularly from the Research and Development Centre for Tiphlotechnical Applications (CIDAT) of the Spanish National Organisation of the Blind (ONCE).
Thanks to e-Glance, the blind will have easier access to their workstations and more autonomy in their actions, a positive aspect for users and the company. This also significantly lowers the stress levels that might be heightened by a lack of vision because of the constant attention to details, consequently increasing their self confidence.
Description of the system
The implementation of the solution comprises three pillars: a reality capture module based on a network of sensors for locating moving objects and persons in real time, and a procedure for efficiently capturing fixed elements; a virtual world reflecting the physical world in real time and with the detail necessary for properly operating the application; and a third augmented reality module that, unless overridden, alerts the user to relevant changes in the surroundings and on-demand information retrieval regarding specific zones of interest to the user.
The purpose of the proposed collaboration is to conduct a study of factors that could have influenced in the penetration or mass use of ICT applications in people with disabilities.
To do so, the project will mine sources of information as long as agreed to by the Indra team and Comillas so that a profile of robust and appropriately oriented factors can be obtained in the period of this collaboration to achieve the intended objectives.
The study will focus on motor, visual, hearing and cognitive impairments.
The ICT applications will be identified in the aforementioned impairments at the national level to ascertain their degree of use by this target group and gain the most relevant factors of the impact on that group.
The study will be conducted by researching sectors of associations for the disabled, administrations and ICT application companies that have had the most impact on their use.
At the beginning of the collaboration, Indra and Comillas will jointly identify the information sources for implementing the study. For example, these sources of information could be: national and international public reports regarding the use of ICTs by disabled people, recognised organizations of the different groups with disabilities under analysis or surveys conducted on organisations and users.
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