Man develops an intelligent wearable visual assistant inspired by blind people

Roopam Sharma, born in India, in 1995, lives in the USA, is a scientist and innovator, having had studied Bachelors of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering. In 2015, during a firsthand blindfold experience to his eyes, Roopam spent 30 minutes of his life in the darkness. This made him think about blind people and how he could work to help improve their lives.

After the blindfold experience, the scient visited a blind student, Akashdeep, who dream to become an inventor. However, it was difficult for him because the literature he needed to read was not available in Braille.

This made Roopam think of a solution: replace Braille with an intelligent wearable visual assistant called Manovue.

“Manovue is the world’s first intelligent wearable visual assistant. In simple words, imagine another set of eyes, another set of brains, always with you augmenting your experiences. With the Manovue multi-utility wearable glove, the user simply points their finger towards any printed text and the device reads out aloud what’s written over there. Manovue is an inexpensive technology that replaces the 200-year-old braille language and brings employability, employment and empowerment to the visually impaired community,” the inventor explained.

The technologies enables the following: it enables the user to read printed text by simply pointing over the text; helps the users to navigate freely outside well known environment through haptic feedback and comes with a completely voice controlled mobile phone application and enables the user to use his phone only through his voice.

It took Roompam 10 months to conclude this project. Being an inclusive device, the scient relied on user’s feedback to improve the development of this gadget.

When a voice request is made, the system performs accordingly.

Manouve can also people who struggle with dyslexia, dyscalculia, Visual Perceptual/Visual Motor Deficit, second language learners, tourists in need of translation, young children learning their first language or even people recovering from brain trauma. It also provides distraction-free reading and learning experience to the patients of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

“Over the next five years, for my work with Manovue, our mission by the year 2023 is to enable the poorest 100M of those 300M visually impaired people to read and help improve their lifestyle, employability, and overall well-being,” Roopam expressed.

Roopam was awarded the Gifted Citizen Prize 2016, and Technology Review, which presents new generations of innovators, listed him as an innovator under 35 in 2016.
Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2YMOuP3

More info: https://www.manovue.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K2JvwrGzA4