Electronic glasses which use computer vision and augmented reality to improve visual capacity and increase autonomy of people who have low vision

Project Information

BIEL SMARTGAZE

Grant agreement ID: 854824

DOI

10.3030/854824

Project closed

EC signature date 31 January 2019

Start date 1 February 2019

End date 31 July 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

BIEL GLASSES SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIEL SMARTGAZE (Electronic glasses which use computer vision and augmented reality to improve visual capacity and increase autonomy of people who have low vision)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2019-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The name of our project comes from Biel, son of the founders and a child who has Low Vision (LV). LV is a condition in which vision is permanently limited and cannot be improved with regular glasses, medicine, or surgery. It is 6 times more common than blindness. The main difference among people with LV and blind people is that people with LV still hold some vision capacity, but not enough to carry on their daily living. There are 217 million people in the world who suffer LV, and it grows with the aging of the population.
Many different diseases or traumas can cause LV, and their effects on vision may differ a lot. These effects cause severe problems in the lives of people who have LV, such as difficulties in recognizing objects or people, reading, watching TV, mobility problems, etc. The interviews we carried out show that mobility problems are the ones that most diminish autonomy of patients. The diseases that usually produce more mobility problems include glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and strokes affecting vision, but other diseases like diabetic retinopathy or macular degeneration can also cause them, totaling more than 7M people in Europe. These people are unable to walk or travel alone, because the risk of injury and accidents (due to difficulties in perceiving obstacles, changes in the ground or steps) and disorientation (dfficulties recognizing street signs and references, reading inability, problems using public transportation and risk of getting lost). This limits social and professional capacities, reducing their world to their homes and nearby surroundings. Mobility problems also impede the practice of simple sports like jogging or trekking. All this limitations lead to isolation, frustration and depression.
Our innovation:
Nevertheless, unlike the completely blind, people with LV still hold remaining vision that, with the adequate adaptations, can be used to improve their mobility. BIEL SMARTGAZE are smart glasses which combine computer vision, artificial intelligence and mixed reality to make the most of their remaining vision. BIEL SMARTGAZE glasses detect obstacles, holes, changes in the ground surface and street signs, and show them in a way the users can perceive with their remaining vision. It includes also other features like zoom, image improvement (definition, contrast), etc., in order to facilitate reading and other tasks, providing a complete solution to improve their mobility, their personal autonomy and quality of life.
Phase 1 objectives:
The purpose of this Feasibility Study is to provide the necessary information to ensure the successful development and commercialization of BIEL SMARGAZE. This study focuses on defining target market and customers, technological validation, regulatory and IP protection strategy, Business model and necessary resources to successfully develop and commercialise the solution.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The aim of the project is to identify a clear route to market. This is made up of a technological development roadmap as well as the business, regulatory and reimbursement strategy defined In order to achieve our objective, we divided the Feasibility Study into several tasks:

Task 1: Market analysis:
• Verify the need, the benefits of the solution and its social impact.
• Assess market opportunity and identify our target customers.
Task 2: Technological validation:
• Assess HW/SW options to maximize performance.
• Validation testing of smart glasses with patients with Visual Disabilities.
Task 3: Commercialization roadmap:
• Identify IPR and regulatory issues
• Define appropriate CE marking strategies.
Task 4: Business Plan

As part of our market analysis, we established conversations with main stakeholders of several European countries including Spain, Denmark, UK, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France and Germany. These conversations let us to understand the features of each the corresponding markets, including public reimbursement policies for assistive technologies, specific regulations and implied institutions. Additionally, it allowed us to start conversations with optical stores and distributors which specialize in low vision, confirming in most cases their interest in selling our product, to validate our business model and our entry strategy, and their willinginess to pay. We also identified Spain and Denmark as our “beachhead” markets.
In the technological side, we validated the functionality and usability of our technology, and identified the technical gaps that exist between the current BIEL SMARGAZE prototype and the final product that, based on the market analysis, meets the clients’ needs. For doing so we designed and build a testing laboratory (“Movilab”) in collaboration with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, which provided the facilities for installing the lab and the flow of patients necessary for performing the trials. The lab comprises multiple testing itineraries including different types of obstacles, holes, steps, etc. We designed our validation studies according to the general guidelines for medical devices.
As the results of the analysis on the market, technology and regulation demonstrated the potential of the product and the feasibility of the business, we developed a five-year business plan including financial projections.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

BIEL SMARTGAZE is a device for helping visually impaired people to be mobile and autonomous. Its objective is not so much in the cure of the patient as in the improvement of their quality of life. In the case of BIEL SMARTGAZE, this improvement is achieved through the improvement of their mobility and personal autonomy. Thus, the social impact can be measured based on the number of people who can benefit from this technology, both patients and their families.
There are more than 7 million people in Europe with mobility problems due to low vision.
Benefits include improvement of productivity, the reduction of costs due to the need to help dependency, the reduction of the impact on family members, the reduction of accidents and injuries (and their corresponding costs), the improvement of the psychological state of the patients by the increase of their autonomy and therefore of their capacity for social relationship, etc. Most of these improvements are very difficult to measure, but existing studies value € 3,000 per person annual costs solely for lost productivity. Other studies that cover a broader spectrum in terms of costs, estimate this impact in advanced countries such as the USA at more than $ 10,000 annually. Applying these figures in Europe, the impact is more than € 60,000 million. Although this is very big impact, it is not the most important. The most important impact will be the increase of happiness, autonomy and quality of life of millions of people across Europe and the World.

Comparing with the state of the art, our solution is much better than conventional solutions to improve mobility of visually impaired people providing a much better perception of the scene and thus a major improvement in autonomy. When comparing specifically with other existing electronic glasses for low vision, our 3D-AI technology provides unique mobility functions which clearly position our device as the best solution for personal autonomy.

From the business point of view, we expect to achieve 27 M€ revenues in 5 years, with a solid 5M€ EBITDA, employing more than 50 people and exporting more than 40% of production outside UE.

BIEL SMARTGAZE concept model

Patient avoiding an obstacle wearing BIEL SMARTGAZE prototype

Patient with low vision clashing an obstacle