UC3M creates virtual reality glasses that allow blind people to recognize objects

The Carlos III University of Madrid, in collaboration with the University of Valladolid, has created virtual reality glasses designed for those people who suffer from moderate visual difficulties in order to help them recognize objects.

Researchers from the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) have developed a system that can be integrated into virtual reality glasses that helps people with moderate visual impairment to move around their environment. The application detects the distance and shape of objects and interacts with the user through a simple color code.

The prototype has been developed on the support of a Head Mounted Display device (HMD), a virtual reality helmet that integrates two cameras and is coupled to a small computer that processes all the images that come to it. So, thanks to the algorithm developed by these researchers, The system determines the distance and contours of objects and communicates this to the user in real time through two microscreens, highlighting the silhouette of the elements of the scene and varying the color depending on the distance.

As explained by the professor from the Department of Electronic Technology at UC3M, Ricardo Vergaz, “This device is aimed at those who, when walking normally, would bump into everything they cannot see due to loss of their visual field., product of glaucoma or retinal pathologies, among other problems”.

Specifically, points out that this system detects objects and people that move within the visual field that a person without pathologies would have. “A menudo el paciente no los ve también por problemas de contraste y la información sobre profundidad es la que más echaban de menos los pacientes que usan este tipo de ayudas técnicas”, has apostilled.

At the moment the invention is being tested on the support of 'smart glasses'’ in collaboration with the Institute of Applied Ophthalmology (JOB) from the University of Valladolid, where clinical trials are carried out for validation and applicability. The ultimate goal is to improve the ergonomics of the device, so that the user has no problem carrying these glasses along with a lightweight electronic mechanism that could be carried in a pocket.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLnGXsn19Nw[/youtube]