Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DBKCMzAssD0/ Computer scientists at the University of California-Santa Cruz have developed smartphone apps that can help the blind navigate indoors through buildings.  Their Wayfinder app employs the map of an indoor space, the phones sensors, and artificial intelligence to relay verbal direction to the blind user who is moving through the space.  The system does not employ the phone’s camera and the user need not hold the phone out in front while walking.   Once at an indoor destination, the Backtracking app can guide the blind user back to an initial entry point using recorded data including numbers of steps and directions of movement. Smartphones can already be helpful for guiding the blind through outdoor spaces where satellite GPS is available.  These novel apps are a first step toward providing this same mobility independence for visually challenged persons indoors so that the blind can traverse any space with confidence….someday soon. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10