Smart Cities and Autonomous Driving: How Technology is Providing Greater Freedom of Movement for People with Vision Loss
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
Release Date: 06/02/2023
Biosensors: The Future of Diagnostic Medicine
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. This episode is about how biosensor technology is revolutionizing the field of diagnostic and preventive medicine. Biosensors can take many forms — wearable, implantable, and even ingestible. And they can serve many different functions as well, most notably when it comes to detecting the various pressure levels in our bodies. This episode features interviews with several luminaries working with biosensors. One of them is Doug Adams, a revolutionary entrepreneur who became inspired to create a...
info_outline
The World in Your Hand: The Power of Generative AI
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
When it comes to emerging technology, there’s no hotter topic than artificial intelligence. Programs like ChatGPT and Midjourney are becoming more popular and are inspiring people to explore the possibilities of what AI can achieve — including when it comes to accessible technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. One of those people is Saqib Shaikh, an engineering manager at Microsoft. Saqib leads the team that developed an app called Seeing AI, which utilizes the latest generation of artificial intelligence, known as generative AI Dr. Cal spoke with Saqib about how...
info_outline
Reimagining the Visual Arts
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. When it comes to art, a common phrase is “look, don’t touch.” Many think of art as a purely visual medium, and that can make it difficult for people who are blind or visually impaired to engage with it. But in recent years, people have begun to reimagine what it means to experience and express art. For this episode, Dr. Cal spoke to El-Deane Naude from Sony Electronics. El-Deane discussed the Retissa NeoViewer, a project developed with QD Laser that projects images taken on a camera...
info_outline
Developing Big Ideas: Product Testing and Iteration
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. When we buy a product off the shelf, we rarely think about how much work went into getting it there. Between initial conception and going to market, life-changing technology requires a rigorous testing and development process. That is especially true when it comes to accessible technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. For this episode, Dr. Cal spoke to Jay Cormier, the President and CEO of Eyedaptic, a company that specializes in vision-enhancement technology. Their flagship...
info_outline
Robotic Guidance Technology
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. The white cane and guide dogs are long-established foundational tools used by people with vision impairment to navigate. Although it would be difficult to replace the 35,000 years of bonding between humans and dogs, researchers are working on robotic technologies that can replicate many of the same functions of a guide dog. One such project, called LYSA, is being developed by Vix Labs in Brazil. LYSA sits on two wheels and is pushed by the user. It’s capable of identifying obstacles and...
info_outline
Smart Cities and Autonomous Driving: How Technology is Providing Greater Freedom of Movement for People with Vision Loss
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Navigating the world can be difficult for anyone, whether or not they have vision loss. Tasks like driving safely through a city, navigating a busy airport, or finding the right bus stop all provide unique challenges. Thankfully, advances in technology are giving people more freedom of movement than ever before, allowing them to get where they want, when they want, safely. Smart Cities are putting data collection to work in a healthy way by providing information to make busy intersections more...
info_outline
Leveling Up Accessible Video Game Features: How New Technology is Making Gaming More Immersive and Inclusive for People with Vision Loss
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. For decades, people with vision loss had limited options when it came to accessing video games. Aside from screen magnification and text-to-voice tools, gamers who are blind or visually impaired didn’t have many ways to play their favorite titles. But in recent years, the same cutting-edge technology used to create games has been used to also make them more accessible for people with vision impairment. These advances include more visibility options, the implementation of 3D audio, haptic...
info_outline
A Celebration of Sound and Song: Music Tech Shines the Spotlight on Musicians with Vision Loss
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Marcus Roberts, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and even Louis Braille (who invented the Braille Music Notation system still used today) prove that musicians who are blind or visually impaired have made profound impacts on our musical landscape. However, to get their work to us, musicians who are blind have had to structure complex workarounds, like relying on sighted musicians to demonstrate complex scores; memorizing long pieces; or only performing when they can have a Braille score in front of...
info_outline
Ambient Computing and Voice Assistants: From Your Home to the Stars
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Lots of people have voice-controlled smart home assistants like Siri, Google, or Alexa in their homes…. to listen to the news or to set timers. But they can do so much more! David Frerichs, Principal Engineer, Alexa Experience at Amazon on the aging and accessibility team, shares his design philosophy for making voice assistants more inclusive, and the preferred mode of engagement for every user. He also shares that the next stage of smart home assistants will be ambient computing, where your...
info_outline
New Approaches in Access: Smart Tools for Indoor Navigation and Information Transfer
On Tech & Vision With Dr. Cal Roberts
This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Artifacts from Blackbeard’s sunken pirate ship are on display in the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, North Carolina. But now they are also accessible to visitors who are blind, thanks to the efforts of Peter Crumley, who spearheads the Beaufort Blind Project. In this episode, we ask: How can new technology help make sites like these as accessible to people who are blind as they are to sighted people? We profile three companies applying new technologies paired with smartphone...
info_outlineThis podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss.
Navigating the world can be difficult for anyone, whether or not they have vision loss. Tasks like driving safely through a city, navigating a busy airport, or finding the right bus stop all provide unique challenges. Thankfully, advances in technology are giving people more freedom of movement than ever before, allowing them to get where they want, when they want, safely.
Smart Cities are putting data collection to work in a healthy way by providing information to make busy intersections more secure, sidewalks more accessible, and navigation more accurate. They’re providing assistance for all aspects of travel, from the front door to the so-called “last hundred feet,” while using automated technology to make life easier every step of the way.
And although fully autonomous vehicles are still on the horizon, the technology being used to develop them is being applied to improve other aspects of life in incredible ways. These applications are making the world more accessible, safer, and better for everyone, including people who are blind or visually impaired.
One example of this is Dan Parker, the “World’s Fastest Blind Man,” who has developed sophisticated guidance systems for his racing vehicles, as well as a semi-autonomous bicycle that could give people with vision loss a new way to navigate the world safely and independently.
The Big Takeaways:
- Smart Cities. Greg McGuire and his team at MCity in Ann Arbor, Michigan are working on the concept of Smart Cities, which focus on using data to improve the everyday lives of their citizens. That means improving traffic intersection safety, greater accessibility options, providing detailed “last hundred feet” guidance, and much more.
- Autonomous Driving. In a perfect world, self-driving cars will provide ease of transportation for everyone, and create safer, less congested roads. That technology isn’t there yet – but it’s being worked on by talented researchers like John Dolan, the Principal Systems Scientist at Carnegie Mellon’s Autonomous Driving Vehicle Research Center. Sophisticated sensors and advanced robot-human interfaces are being developed to make self-driving cars possible.
- Application of Technology. Even though the technologies behind Smart Cities and autonomous vehicles are still being developed, they can still be applied to everyday life in exciting ways. Things like miniature delivery robots that can deliver goods, AI-powered suitcases that can help you navigate busy airports, or semi-autonomous bicycles are already here – and there’s more on the way.
- The World’s Fastest Blind Man. When professional race car driver Dan Parker lost his vision in an accident, he felt lost. But a moment of inspiration led him and his business partner Patrick Johnson to develop a sophisticated guidance system that let him continue racing without human assistance. Thanks to this revolutionary technology, Dan became the “World’s Fastest Blind Man” when he set a land-speed record of 211.043 miles an hour in his customized Corvette.
Tweetables:
- “One of the key pillars of MCity is accessibility. The four areas we think about are safety, efficiency, equity, and accessibility. … Accessibility is that we can make transportation systems available to as many of us as possible.” – Greg McGuire, Managing Director of MCity
- “I became the first blind man to race Bonneville, with an average speed of 55.331 mph. And I returned in 2014 and set my official FIM class record … at 62.05 mph. … I’m the only blind land speed racer … with no human assistance.”– Dan Parker, the “World’s Fastest Blind Man”
- “There are chairs, there are tables. ... We know we don’t want to run into them, but we do want to walk in the walkable space. … A car wants to drive in the drivable space.” – John Dolan, Principal Systems Scientist at Carnegie Mellon’s Autonomous Driving Vehicle Research Center
- “Because we know autonomous technology is increasing every day and it’s coming, you know, a hundred percent it’s coming. You know, transportation is freedom and that’s exactly what that would bring us. Freedom.” – Dan Parker
Contact Us:
Contact us at [email protected] with your innovative new technology ideas for people with vision loss.
Pertinent Links: