DIGIGLASSES Project
Today 5% of the population is visually impaired. These people have only between 1% and 33% of the visual acuity of the ones with healthy eyesight. In case the visual capability is lower than 10% they need special equipment such as binoculars-glasses or magnifying glasses to read texts, watch television and work with computers. A significant percentage of the visually impaired have serious problems with interpreting visual information of their surroundings due to reduced peak contrast sensitivity and blurred vision which severely affects an individual’s ability to perform activities of daily living not to speak of considerable economic impact visual impairments have on countries. The proposed solution: The DIGIGLASSES project aims to help this group of visually impaired people by providing them with a glasses-like digital tool to convert the real view of the environment to a sharper, more focused picture by increasing contrast and using edge detection. The plan is to develop a pair of digital “glasses” working with a camera chip, a signal processing unit and a small LCD or LED screen. The captured picture will be analyzed and processed based on the necessary corrections. One of the planned corrections is contrast increasing and edge detection which will help the visually impaired recognize the different objects in their surroundings. The signal processing can be completed with motion detection as well for them to recognize moving objects like cars or bicycles; and colour recognition to emphasize red and green colours. Benefits of the project: The consortium will merge background from different sectors integrating the knowledge of optics, electrical engineering and medical sciences. The manufacturers and suppliers of the final product will gain significant market opportunity for a novel and innovative product. The visually impaired will get an affordable and easy-to-use aid for their daily activities.
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom