viSparsh: Modified version of Kinect to deftly guide visually impaired people

Imagine a baleful world where you can only perceive light but not shapes. Now, that is the unfortunate world of 25 year old Mohammed Wasim, who, like 285 million other people around the world, cannot make out forms of objects in his visual zone.

viSparsh

So, when it comes to their personal movement and motor skills, shapeless forms have always proved to be a bane on the side of visually impaired people. In this regard, the ingeniously conceived viSparsh comes into the adverse picture, as one the very few conscientious solutions for blind people, based on mobility.

Envisaged as a sensor system for guiding visually impaired people through various indiscernible obstacles, the viSparsh is ingeniously designed by an Indian trio of engineers: Rolly Seth, Jatin Sharma and Tushar Chugh. Still in its developmental stage, the entire project is overseen by Professor Rahul Mangharam of the University of Pennsylvania.

Taking up the criterion of practicality, the design scope incorporates a belt (to be worn by the user), on which the contraption is fixed. Its core mechanism entails the utilization of Kinect's advanced motion sensing attribute. Modified according to their virtuous needs, the designers have slightly altered this sensing feature so as to gauge the distance and direction of any particular obstacle. Upon determining the magnitude, it can in turn send a vibratory feedback to the user.

Coming to functionality, the system characteristically produces the vibratory motions, only when in direction of the obstacle, while the vibrations increase by the rate of moving closer to this shapeless barrier. But according to the designers, all of these only pertain to a preliminary level of development. The endeavor's future progression will involve the decreasing of the weight of the device, and also improving upon its ergonomic nature. These would certainly accentuate upon the very important factor of user convenience.

Via: IBNLive