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style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Teen
Creates Device Enabling the Blind to Get Around Better, Even Get Jobs
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>MEXICO
CITY – A vest fitted with sensors and artificial intelligence has been created
by Mexican teenager Diego Roel to replace the classic cane or walking stick for
the blind with technology that makes life much easier for them and even gives
them the chance to get a job. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>The
device called Strap, the 16-year-old prep student at the Technological
University of Mexico (Unitec) told EFE, will give the blind “a new way to sense
their surroundings,” which will in turn offer them unprecedented independence,
something he believes “will open the door to many job opportunities.”
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>“We have
around 500 on the waiting list (for vests) including several companies that are
interested in giving their blind employees the chance to do their work even
better,” the young inventor said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>The chief
goal of the device is to allow “people with sight disabilities to be more
independent, more sure of themselves and with more opportunities,” without any
need to use a cane or other such accessory. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>By just
feeling vibrations in different parts of the body, the blind user is warned of
whatever obstacles ahead have been detected by the sensors, and which have been
interpreted and classified by artificial intelligence.
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style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>“The
device determines whether there is an obstacle or not. For example, if it’s just
pavement, it’s not an obstacle, so it says this is not a danger, therefore I’m
not going to warn you. But if it’s a hole in the ground, it will identify the
danger and will warn you,” Roel said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Sensors
in the vest at shoulder level indicate head-high obstacles; at chest level, some
large object in the way; at the hip, a hole or stumbling block on the ground
ahead. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>The vest
also detects the approach of objects in movement like vehicles, and emits a
special kind of alert so the person can stop in time.
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style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>A
particular novelty is its ability to detect things above the waist, spaces to
which the cane has no access. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Thanks to
the sensors, elevated objects are detected “like trees, posts, posters, columns,
things the blind run into all the time because the cane is incapable of
detecting them.” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Roel will
compete with his company Strap Technologies in the Startup World Cup taking
place in Silicon Valley next May 11, following his project’s victory in Talent
Land 2018, the innovation and technology event held last April in the Mexican
state of
Jalisco.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>