Blind woman develops several technologies to help the blind

Chieko had a swimming pool accident that left her blind when she was 14.

"When I started out there was no assistive technology. I couldn't read any information by myself. I couldn't go anywhere by myself”, she recalled.

She has been dedicating her life to create technology that can help her and other people who are visually impaired have a better and more independent life.

Chieko took a computer science course for blind people and then started working at IBM. She worked on early digital Braille innovations and created the world's first practical web-to-speech browser.

Now, the scientist and other experts are working with AI tools to help improve the lives of visually impaired patients.

Chieko is working with micro mapping. She built NavCog, a voice-controlled smartphone app that helps blind people navigate complicated indoor locations. It works thanks to low-energy Bluetooth beacons are installed roughly every 10m (33ft) to create an indoor map. Sampling data is collected from those beacons to build "fingerprints" of a specific location.

The expert is also developing a lightweight AI suitcase navigational robot. This gadget steers a blind person through the complex terrain of an airport, providing directions as well as useful information on flight delays and gate changes, for example. The suitcase features a motor, to move on its own, and also has an image-recognition camera to detect surroundings, and Lidar - Light Detection And Ranging - for measuring distances to objects.

These products are still prototypes.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2PZir9y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-mQIWnO3Ag