Google’s self-driving car seems like a cool gadget on one hand, and it is, but I think many people don’t see the real benefit to this sort of technology. I think that self-driving cars hold the biggest potential benefit for people that can’t drive on their own for a multitude of reasons. Recently, a man named Steve Mahan, who happens to be blind, got to go for a ride in Google self-driving car. He said, “Where this would change my life is to give me the independence and the flexibility to go to the places I both want to go and need to go when I need to do those things.”

This technology could really change lives for many people and I’m glad several states are working to approve the operation of these vehicles on public streets. Check out the video above to see Steve during his test drive – and a stop by Taco Bell for lunch.

[via LA Times]

I’m sure this is how AT-ATs must have been born within the Empire as well. They probably had a few Imperials who were blind and needed a guide robot. When they saw how creepy they were, they just upped the scale.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This latest robot from NSK is the ‘robo-dog’ (JP). It’s still in the R&D phase, which has been ongoing since 2005. Not sure what that says about it’s ability. It can climb staircases and small obstacles too, so snowy climates full of rebel bases shouldn’t be a problem.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Plastic Pals via Techcrunch]

There is also a touch-sensitive input pad to allow users to interact with the display. It’s pretty cool, but after I checked out how expensive some of these portable braille boards were, putting this together might cost a pretty penny.

Still, it could allow blind users to access their phones without having to use their voice functions, so it would be interesting to see this made.

[YouKu via core77]

Designed and built by Steve Hoefer, the Tacit glove uses two sonar ping sensors to measure distances around its wearer. The relative distance is then fed back to the user thanks to two servos, which apply pressure to the back of the wrist, helping them avoid obstacles and better judging distances.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Tacit uses an Arduino pro mini to control the sonar sensors and provide feedback to the servos. The whole thing runs off a 9-volt battery, and is completely self-contained.

What’s even more impressive is that the Tacit is actually a Creative Commons licensed DIY project. You can actually make one or have it made for you by someone who’s good with electronics. Steve provides a parts list, schematic and source code here.

[via Hack-a-Day]

Designed by Jayson D’Alessandro, the Omnifer is a concept iPad case design that’s meant to make the iPad usable for the visually impaired, thanks to a built-in braille display.

The braille display would cover up about half of the touchscreen’s surface area when in use. But the clever dual-hinge design would allow it to swing around to the back of the iPad when not in use.

Unfortunately at this time, it’s not easy to make tablets and smartphones easily usable by the visually impaired. Hopefully, prices for these boards and displays will go down to allow them to be used more frequently.

[via Yanko Design]

Now, one little Kickstarter project aims to improve the lives of the visually disabled, allowing them to easily label everyday items with Braille.

The 6dot Labeler is a simple, yet ingenious device which allows the blind to label items with Dymo label tape. But instead of printing out letters and numbers, the 6dot outputs braille tape. The lightweight, portable device will allow its users to easily label common household objects, and improve their overall independence and quality of life.

The project aims to raise $50,000 by September 10, 2011 in order to get the 6dot into production. Head on over to Kickstarter to contribute to the cause. Frankly, I think the guys over at Dymo should get into the action here, and help push the project across the finish line – maybe they could even pony up some free label tape for 6dot’s customers.

So in that sense, the Blind Camera isn’t really a camera at all, but the way it works and operates is pretty cool. As you can see, there are no lenses or anything, but there is a big red button that’s just screaming out for you to push it. Once you do, a cellphone that’s built into the Blind Camera unit retrieves a photo from Flickr that was taken at the exact second. Pretty cool, right?

Sascha Pohflepp is the man behind the faux camera, which is on display as part of his Blinks and Buttons art exhibit. He explains his inspiration for creating such a piece:

Taking a photo means making a memory. Choosing a moment in time and framing a situation. Archiving it or making it public. Either way, we create a visual item that we have an emotional attachment to through our memory. Photos help us to remember moments in our past. Often they even become a memory in their own right. For many, making their moments public through services like Flickr is already part the process of photography itself, creating archives which contain a vast collection of visual fragments of individual lives.

[via Oh Gizmo]

The Dot Watch is made out of a single, flexible strap covered in stretchable PVC. The main display uses three dots that press up against a flexible sheet to tell the time. The center dot is the middle of the watch. The dot closest to this one indicates the hours while the exterior one shows the minutes. As is the case with faceless analog watches, you’ll have to guesstimate the time, which is good in my book.

To be honest, using a sort of braille numeric dot display might be more useful.

[via Yanko Design]

I have seen a few watches that are for the blind or visually impaired, and generally they speak the time out loud for the wearer to hear. I would think that many folks wouldn’t want the time to be blurted out in public when they need to know what time it is. A new concept watch has turned up called the Haptica Braille Watch, and it’s designed to look really cool and lets the wearer tell time with Braille numbers.

The Haptica is being funded through Kickstarter, and the designer, David Chavez, is seeking $150k in contributions to put the watch into production. So far, the watch has 199 backers and has raised nearly $37,000 and has until March 4th to reach its funding goals. Those who pledge at least $250 will actually receive one of the watches from the first production run.

The human test subject was a soldier, who was blinded in Iraq. The system consists of a small video camera attached to a pair of sunglasses. This is then connected to a device which is placed on the user’s tongue.

BrainPort converts visual signals into electrical impulses which are sent to the tongue. The intensity of the signal allows the user to figure out how close obstacles are in his or her path. I was actually trying to imagine how a tongue could “see”. It turns out that there’s a lot more to this technology than just sending jolts to your tongue…

“With the current system (arrays containing 100 to 600+ electrodes), study participants have been able to recognize high-contrast objects, their location, movement, and some aspects of perspective and depth. Trained blind participants use information from the tongue display to augment understanding of the environment. Our ongoing research with the BrainPort vision device demonstrates the great potential of tactile vision augmentation and we believe that these findings warrant further exploration. As a result, we are currently working on improvements to the tongue display hardware, software, and usability,  and on overall device miniaturization.”

[via Ubergizmo]

The Bright Blind comes from the minds of designers Makoto Hirahara and Hisakazu Nabeshima (for Japanese design collective Studio Mongoose). It’s a window shade that hangs on your wall and is backlit by electroluminescent sheets to provide simulated daylight in even the darkest of offices. Just like a real window shade, brightness is adjusted by twirling the plastic shade control.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The shade is currently just a hand-built prototype, so I’m hoping they decide to produce these for purchase soon. Head on over to the GNR8 Pipeline site for more information (and a ton of other cool design concepts).

[via CribCandy via Coolest-Gadgets]