[Nfbf-l] Science in Mind Two cameras to help where eyes have failed

[Alan Dicey]

Science in Mind
Two cameras to help where eyes have failed
By Carolyn Y. Johnson - Globe Staff     September 23, 2013
   Article
A dual camera system being developed by a Draper Laboratory engineer could 
help Blind people navigate.
For years, engineer Rich Madison has been developing a system that could 
help soldiers or driverless vehicles navigate in environments where GPS 
signals falter.
Imagine soldiers searching for a weapons cache within a dense forest or a 
rover on another planet trying to pick its way toward a destination, well 
beyond the reach of turn-by-turn, satellite-sent directions.
The Draper Laboratory engineer's technology instead uses two cameras - a 
system like our eyes - to assess how much distance has been covered and when 
the vehicle has turned.
It may even help blind people get around more easily.
Last summer, Madison was giving a presentation at a conference focused on 
soldier navigation and a professor at Auburn University who worked on 
transportation technologies asked if he would like to collaborate on a 
different sort of project. Perhaps their joint expertise could be used to 
build a prototype of a device that could help blind people navigate - not 
just at the street level, but within buildings and through parking lots.
Through a contract with the Federal Highway Administration, researchers at 
both institutions are working to develop a device to help blind people find 
their way around, or simply know where they are at a given moment.
The Draper technology's two cameras each see a slightly different view, 
information that can be used to generate feedback on where a person is, and 
where he or she is heading. Madison said that placing the cameras as far 
away from each other as possible - such as on epaulets - would give the 
greatest accuracy, though attaching them to a hat or glasses seems more 
probable.
The technology, which will be designed with input from the National 
Federation of the Blind, could help with everyday navigational problems. In 
the future, a blind person might be able to take the subway to a show, weave 
through the station, then enter a concert arena and be guided directly to a 
seat by a sophisticated navigation system that can "see" the local 
environment.
The trick will be designing the technology so that it helps the people who 
need it. Assistive technologies can often be less adept than the people they 
are designed to help.
Carolyn Y. Johnson can be reached at
cjohnson at globe.com. Follow her on Twitter
@carolynyjohnson.
With Best Regards,
God Bless,
Alan
Plantation, Florida
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