In the February 22 newsletter, I posted a short article about the proposed Google Glasses (see http://goo.gl/oPD2U) which reportedly will be available later this year. I then posted a short follow-up article in April at http://goo.gl/bYh0l. In comments posted at the end of those articles, several people, myself included, joked about the idea of wearing computer screens in our eyeglasses. Humorous or not, researchers at the Universidad Carlos III (UC3M) in Madrid, Spain, have developed a pair of somewhat similar “intelligent” goggles that make getting around a bit easier for partly-sighted people. This strikes me as an excellent use for the technology.
The “intelligent” goggles won't help anyone who is completely blind. However, they should be a great assist to those with significant vision problems. Using a pair of cameras mounted on a virtual reality headset connected to a tiny computer, the device scans the area ahead of the wearer and displays information about the scene as color-coded outlines that convey the distance and shapes of objects that are difficult to otherwise see or interpret.
Currently, testing is underway on a representative sample of patients who are suitable for using the device, and results are expected by the end of 2012.
You can read more at http://goo.gl/YOWFh.
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