Release date: 2016-10-27 The blind do not want others to realize that they are blind, and they also want to live as elegant as ordinary people. The World Health Organization has published a set of data: the number of people with impaired vision worldwide is about 285 million, of which 246 million have residual vision. In other words, nearly 85% of the “blind†group has visual residuals and light perception. According to the sense of light and the radius of vision, China also divides visual disability into two types: full blindness and low visual acuity. China has 16.91 million people with visual disabilities, of which 57.8 million are blind and 11.13 million (65%) are low vision. For people with low vision, or blind people who are semi-blind, there are not many reliable products. Searching through a treasure is nothing more than a cane, a magnifying glass, or a portable device that magnifies the text on a book like a BB. Not to mention the pothole blind design like the one below! Not only in China, but in fact, on a global scale, there are few products that help blind people to "see" and perceive the overall environment around them. The Oxsight smart glasses from Oxford University, which we are going to explore today, were born to fill this gap. Oxsight uses computer graphics technology and augmented reality technology to help people with visual disabilities see the world around them. First take a look at the product Oxsight's product is a pair of glasses equipped with a 3D camera. The 3D camera captures the shape and distance of the objects in the surrounding environment, and then analyzes the information through software, and enhances the objects that need to be noticed by the blind, especially the near objects, by highlighting, and becomes an image suitable for the eyes of the blind. Transfer to the display of the glasses to let the blind "see" the surrounding environment and objects. The product developed by Oxsight won the British championship in the 2014 Google Social Impact Competition and received a £500,000 prize from Google. Oxsight's mission is to increase the availability of smart glasses for the blind and to make the blind affordable. Thus, every blind person can enjoy this service. With full curiosity and respect, the detective's agent in the UK sneaked into the office of Oxford University's Oxsight, interviewed founder and product inventor Stephen Hicks, and CEO Rakesh Roshan. Stephen Hicks is a leading global neuroscientist born in Australia and graduated from Imperial College of Technology. He is currently a researcher in neuroscience and visual prosthetics at the University of Oxford. Stephen's postdoctoral research several years ago was related to the eye. He made a simulator that could be worn on the head to study how the information transmitted to the transplanted retina was optimized. Stephen believes that when we look at things, what the optic nerve really perceives is actually screened. The last thing that enters the brain does not mean that we see it. This may also be the theoretical basis for Oxsight's products. Oxsight uses a series of algorithms to simulate the screening process of what is seen in neuroscience, thereby highlighting the most important and critical images and turning them into visual information for the blind. The agent can't wait to try on Oxsight glasses. The glasses are divided into five modes because they have to deal with different lighting conditions and different vision problems from blind people. In the first mode (above b), there are only black and white gray blocks in the view. Close to Stephen is white, Rakesh is far gray, the farther away, the darker the chromaticity; In the second mode (top d), the outer contours of the people and objects present are highlighted by the highlighted lines; The third and fourth modes (above c) are like cartoons. Different colors of black and white comics are used to distinguish different parts of the object, such as human face and hair. It is not suitable for Cloudy Eyes. Group The fifth one is the color mode (above) a, which is closest to the real environment and is suitable for a better lighting environment. In the perspective of the secret agent, Stephen, who is relatively close, is often the most prominent and is emphasized in various ways. The surrounding complicated environment has been simplified by software processing, and it is possible to notice people and objects close at hand. A pilot experiment of more than 300 people In June last year, Oxsight made a pilot project in the UK, lending a batch of prototypes to 300 blind people for a month to collect their feedback. These blind people's vision problems include age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, and the like. The results made everyone very excited. According to reports from the British media at the time, it was said that the glasses made them more independent, walked more freely, and made tea, which greatly improved the quality of life; Someone said: "I finally recognized the face of others. Now I can bypass the obstacles and even see my guide dog for the first time!" Of course, some humorous people think that they wear this glasses like the eagle eye in Star Trek... Weight and battery are still challenges This pilot has also received some negative evaluations, basically about weight. The current prototype weighs about 200 grams and requires an external device, equipped with an Android operating system and battery. Many blind people find it inconvenient. Therefore, the next generation of products that Stephen is now fully researching is focusing on improving weight and battery problems. The new product will be a commercially viable product. The weight of the glasses is expected to be around 70 grams, with a small external control device. The battery will be smaller and last for 2-4 hours. How to make every blind person use it? Stephen told the secret agent that the current prototype is costing hundreds of pounds. And know, data from the World Health Organization survey show that about 90% of people with visual impairment in the world live in low-income countries. There have also been reports from the British media that Oxsight glasses may be listed at around £300. How to make every blind person use such a expensive product? This is also the question that Oxsight CEO Rakesh Roshan has been thinking about. Rakesh shared their thoughts with the secret agent: to establish a "blind center" network to provide this product to the blind in the form of services. What service? For example, if blind people come to the center, they can be examined to see if the eye disability is suitable for the glasses; the center can also provide training for the blind and teach them how to use the glasses; the center may also cooperate with local ophthalmologists to provide Train them to them. In addition to Oxsight, the founders and partners of the Blind Center can also have hospitals, schools for the blind, governments, and even insurance companies. They are looking for suitable partners in every country, and China is one of their first target markets. The founder is the younger brother of Laozi Oxsight and China have deep roots. Not only the first seed round invested more than 2 million pounds from China, the founder Stephen is still the younger brother of the old man, often reading Laozi's work at night! Under the guidance of Laozi's thought, Stephen can often withdraw from the details of the study and see the whole picture, which makes him suddenly open! (The secret agent constantly reflects on his own in the past and did not insist on reading Laozi...) Out of Oxsight's office, the secret agent was full of blessings and expectations for this project. On the technical side, Oxsight's core technology is based on its computer graphics-centric algorithms, and the weight of the glasses cannot be reduced, largely because of the hardware used. The Oxsight prototype is now using Epson's products, and the 3D camera is made by Kinect. Although these are the top products in the industry, they are not enough to support Oxsight's requirements for light weight and low price. So the innovation of the hardware industry is very important for the development of Oxsight. Stephen is very much looking forward to hardware manufacturers to introduce more advanced products, such as smaller 3D cameras, and optical products with a wider field of vision. What are the similar products? eSight The agent also surveyed vendors who are doing similar products. Canada's eSight products use a similar principle, but sell for as much as $15,000. And eSight's smart glasses use ordinary high-speed cameras instead of 3D cameras. After the camera captures the image, it is transmitted back to the controller, and through software calculation, it is converted into an image that the blind person can perceive and is transmitted back to the display of the wearing device. eSight can adjust image brightness, contrast, zoom in and out, etc., but because it is not a 3D camera, there is no perception of distance. The agent thinks it is more suitable for watching TV and reading. 2. Second Sight Another American company, Second Sight, has the same principle, but Second Sight has to surgically implant an electrode on the retina of the blind, and then the camera-captured, software-processed image is wirelessly transmitted back to the electrode to stimulate the optic nerve and make the blind look. To the image. But according to a Bloomberg report in 2014, the system cost about $145,000 in the United States and is only suitable for an eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa. The number of patients with this eye disease is about 100,000 in the United States. Oxsight's competitiveness and vision Within the scope of the agent's eyesight, Oxsight's expected price is the most competitive of its kind. It is also the only product that provides distance information to users. Throughout the interview, one of the special touches of the detective was that Stephen and Rakesh talked about the dignity of the blind. they said: "The blind do not want others to realize that they are blind. Maybe they can find their way with a cane, but they want to be like ordinary people, just wearing a pair of light glasses and elegant life. This is also the vision of Oxsight. " Source: Silicon Valley Secret Agent Demolition Tool Set,Demolition Tool Set Price,manual demolition tool set joho(HK) Technology Co. , Ltd. , https://www.joho-safety.com
