Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Taking Ideas for Vision and Navigation Smartphone Apps (self.Blind)
submitted by taleser
Hi again r/Blind !
Two weeks ago, I shared an app I made called $1, which uses artificial intelligence to describe the scenes around you and in your photos. As an A.I. and software developer, I really want to create applications that are useful and practical for those with low vision, and I'm really interested in any app ideas or feedback that you might have. Over the past few days I've brainstormed a few ideas, and I'd love to hear your thoughts:
1. An urban navigation app, that uses A.I. to check crosswalk signs, provide directions along marked walking paths, and detect oncoming vehicles and pedestrians. More thought is needed to make sure it's extremely safe and accurate. Does anyone have any experience using the Be My Eyes app for this purpose?
2. An app that can detect places, such as coffee shops, beaches, parks, and more. I could make this relatively easily using existing data and A.I. research!
3. An app that predicts how far away an object is from your phone camera and can recognize curbs, stairs, benches, or or other potential obstacles. I'm not sure useful this would be compared to a traditional cane.
4. A note taking app with which you can scan documents, and come back later to listen to the recorded text and also descriptions of any photos or diagrams in the documents.
Finally, if you have any ideas for apps, I'll be taking suggestions and requests from your comments. In a month or two, I might be able to make your idea a reality! My high school starts up again this September and I hope I can dedicate the rest of summer vacation to working on your most requested app ideas.
Two weeks ago, I shared an app I made called $1, which uses artificial intelligence to describe the scenes around you and in your photos. As an A.I. and software developer, I really want to create applications that are useful and practical for those with low vision, and I'm really interested in any app ideas or feedback that you might have. Over the past few days I've brainstormed a few ideas, and I'd love to hear your thoughts:
1. An urban navigation app, that uses A.I. to check crosswalk signs, provide directions along marked walking paths, and detect oncoming vehicles and pedestrians. More thought is needed to make sure it's extremely safe and accurate. Does anyone have any experience using the Be My Eyes app for this purpose?
2. An app that can detect places, such as coffee shops, beaches, parks, and more. I could make this relatively easily using existing data and A.I. research!
3. An app that predicts how far away an object is from your phone camera and can recognize curbs, stairs, benches, or or other potential obstacles. I'm not sure useful this would be compared to a traditional cane.
4. A note taking app with which you can scan documents, and come back later to listen to the recorded text and also descriptions of any photos or diagrams in the documents.
Finally, if you have any ideas for apps, I'll be taking suggestions and requests from your comments. In a month or two, I might be able to make your idea a reality! My high school starts up again this September and I hope I can dedicate the rest of summer vacation to working on your most requested app ideas.
Amonwilde 3 points 6y ago
2 and 4 are pretty much already covered by existing apps (Blindsquare and Evernote, among others). 3 has potential, I think it would have to be done in a very intelligent way, though it might actually be done better as a hardware solution with lidar or sonar. 1 I could see myself using, GPS is always a little iffy and street signs are what the sighted use to get around. A navigation app that combined GPS with landmark detection might also alleviate the dreaded "last 30 feet" problem, where blind people are at their destinations but don't know where the entrance is.
You seem to have some momentum, keep it up! And happy hacking.
You seem to have some momentum, keep it up! And happy hacking.
taleser [OP] 2 points 6y ago
Thanks for your feedback! As of now, I've decided to work on a combination of 1 and 3. You're completely right that an ultrasonic sensor would be better suited for distance measurement, but thankfully, as part of their push in augmented reality, Apple has embedded similar functionality inside their SDK. I'll make sure to come back in September or October to share the app.
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