Category :
Product Design
Company / University :
ZUZuLABS Pte Ltd，Singapore
Designer :
Boldu, Roger、Ransiri, Shanaka、Nanayakkara, Suranga、Maes, Pattie
Project FingerReader aims to create an assistive device that substantially changes how people with visual impairments can independently access information on the go. Years of our engagement with blind users and caretakers have revealed numerous difficulties with existing state-of-the-art technologies. Such difficulties include problems with accuracy, efficiency, cost, and more importantly social acceptability. With the design of FingerReader, we address these challenges through a discreet and reliable finger-worn accessory that allows users to simply point at products, menus, signs etc. to perform a recognition and interpretation task and hear the result spoken to him or her through a headset. FingerReader’s innovations include the design of a hardware form-factor, and a software architecture that allows users to accomplish a task with a minimal number of steps compared to using a Smartphone app where they would have to typically go through many steps to open an application. We believe, FingerReader will empower the communities who would otherwise have no access to assistive technology because they were either too expensive or did not fulfill the user expectations. The potential impact of FingerReader goes beyond the assistive technology domain and could be used to support education such as language learning.