Independent mobility to the blind and visually impaired using wearable remote touch sensing technology

Project Information

7Sense

Grant agreement ID: 190148354

DOI 10.3030/190148354

Project closed

EC signature date 14 September 2022

Start date 1 October 2022

End date 31 January 2025

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost € 3 194 181,25

EU contribution € 2 235 926,88

Coordinated by

SEVENTH SENSE OU
Estonia

Project description

Wearables unlock greater autonomy for blind people

Millions of blind or visually impaired people in the EU use a cane or seeing-eye dog to help get around. The EIC project 7Sense is going one step further to provide a solution for safe and independent mobility for both indoor and outdoor spaces. The ability to interact with the surrounding environment is also top priority. The project’s patented technology consists of a wearable headband comprising a proprietary haptic device (array of physical pixels) and a 3D capture camera offering the user a superhuman sense of touch, allowing them to see and be free. The innovation captures the physical world in real time and brings it to the users’ forehead through the sense of touch.

Objective

7Sense™ is a unique innovation that can empower 290 Million blind and visually impaired people to safely achieve independent mobility in indoor and outdoor spaces, and to interact with the surrounding environment and people – no remote or physical assistance, no dog, no cane. 7Sense gives a superhuman sense of touch, enabling them to see and be free. The patented technology comes in the form of a wearable headband comprising a proprietary haptic device (array of physical pixels) and a 3D capture camera. 7Sense captures the physical world in real-time and conveys it to the users’ forehead through the sense of touch. The prototype (TRL6) has already collected positive feedback from the Chairman of the Estonian Blind Union who lost complete sight at age 13 – ‘For once I was blind, now I can see. This changes everything’. The company has the technical know-how, strategic alliances, and management and business experience to create and deliver the solution effectively and at scale.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• engineering and technology › electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering › electronic engineering › sensors › optical sensors
• agricultural sciences › animal and dairy science › domestic animals

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Keywords

• Immersive Technology
• Remote touch sensing
• Tactile
• Blind
• Visually impaired
• Assistive Technology

Programme(s)

• HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme

Topic(s)

• HORIZON-EIC-2022-ACCELERATOROPEN-01 - EIC Accelerator Open

Call for proposal

HORIZON-EIC-2022-ACCELERATOR-01

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-EIC-ACC-BF - HORIZON EIC Accelerator Blended Finance

Coordinator

SEVENTH SENSE OU

• Net EU contribution: € 2 235 926,88
• Address: HARJU MAAKOND, MUSTAMAE LINNAOSA, S ; 13412 Tallinn ; Estonia
• SME The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed. Yes:
  Region
  Eesti › Eesti › Põhja-Eesti
• Region: Eesti › Eesti › Põhja-Eesti
• Activity type: Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
• Total cost: € 3 194 181,25