Tag: Blind

The sun comes up REALLY early here in Colorado. I thought it was like 10 am last weekend, and it was only 6 am. I blame the house behind me with the mirror tint on the back windows, and the fact that Colorado is roughly 16 inches from the surface of the sun.

Living in Colorado, I can say unequivocally that mountain views are breathtaking. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be blind or visually impaired and unable to enjoy views like that. Ford wants to allow the visually impaired to “see” the view with their sense of touch. The automaker has created a prototype window display that it calls “Feel the View” that is able to take pictures and turn them into high contrast monochrome images.

Researchers at the Hasso-Plattner-Institut have come up with a way for visually impaired people to interact with images, similarly to how we use touchscreen devices. Their Linespace computer display uses 3D printing components to draw raised lines and shapes. Linespace printhead has a PLA extruder for drawing and a scraper for erasing.

YouTuber Terry Garrett aka Mega Tgarrett has achieved what I would have thought was impossible. He beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, even though he’s blind. It took him a very long time and he had the help of game saves, but still.

A couple of months ago we checked out a free 3D template for a D20 die with Braille markers. If you’re interested in owning one but don’t have access to a 3D printer, check out 64oz Games’ Kickstarter fundraiser for a set of Braille polyhedral dice. The set consists of Braille versions of the d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and percentile dice.

D & D is an awesome game. All you need is your imagination. Build a character and have an adventure. It’s so easy that just about anybody can play it. Even those who can’t see can get in on the fun thanks to things like this cool D20 for the blind. This 3D-printed D20 has the usual numbers, but they are also in braille so blind people can throw their own rolls and read them.

A couple of years ago we checked out OpenGlass, a prototype software that used Google Glass to help the visually impaired identify objects. OrCam has a very similar function. It has a camera that clips on to eyeglasses and recognizes text, faces and objects. OrCam can read non-cursive text and identify objects and faces to the wearer through its bone conduction speaker.

In 2005, bomb technician David Hyche was looking for a way for his blind but fiercely independent 2-year-old daughter Rachel to participate in their church’s Easter Egg hunt. David read about the Blind Children’s Center’s beeping Easter eggs online, so he contacted the person who made them and made some for his daughter.

Braille helps visually impaired people read, but there is a lot of printed material that is never converted to that writing system. Blind people also miss out on using mobile devices because obviously they can’t feel the text on screen.

Last year we saw a robot cane for visually impaired people that warns its user of obstacles with an audible alert. The Virtual Aid for the Visually Impaired or VAVI by grade 10 student Roman Kozak is an even more convenient prototype for a high tech cane.

This robotic cane is the possible future of canes for blind people and the elderly who are not blind, but just have trouble seeing everything.

Instructables member Patrick aka Mizchief100 made what he calls the Visual Impairment Aid or VIA, a wrist-mounted device that alerts the wearer of nearby objects by vibrating and emitting a beeping noise. It’s like the Spider Sense toy but in a more practical form, not to mention one that you can build yourself.

A company called Eone has come up with one of the most innovative wristwatches you’ll ever see. Unlike other timepieces that display or announce the time, The Bradley allows you to determine the time through touch.

Check out these awesome window shades that put spaceships on your window and at the same time help isolate you from sunlight, with only your action figures and DVD collections to keep you company. I kid.

Despite the fact that there are people (and robots) out there who can solve a Rubik’s Cube in about 5 seconds, my tiny brain still needs at least 20 minutes to solve one. But imagine if you were blind (or even color blind).

A neuroscientist from New York named Dr. Sheila Nirenberg apparently has made a medical breakthrough that allowed her to restore sight to blind mice. Now these mice can see how they run thanks to the nonsurgical procedure.