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Toyota Invents Wearable Device For The Blind

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The Japanese car giant Toyota has come up with a wearable device for the blind and visually impaired. Currently waiting to begin beta testing, the device is intended to be worn around the shoulders and aims to assist individuals through indoor spaces such as offices, small rooms and even shopping centers. Toyota announced the innovation on their blog saying the gadget will help users “identify everyday features”.

It will help users better navigate indoor spaces, such as office buildings and shopping malls, by helping them identify everyday features, including bathrooms, escalators, stairs and doors

According to the BBC, the device contains cameras which Toyota says can detect lifts, stairways and doorways. Voice and vibration is incorporated into the gadget so that the wearer is alerted to their surroundings as well as having voice recognition so that the user can cooperate with it and enhance their navigation.

Named Project BLAID, the device is part of an innovation scheme by Toyota with an end goal to help the elderly, particularly in the organization’s nation of origin of Japan. In a video released by the company, scientists explains its competency in successfully aiding a visually impaired man towards a restroom. The Administrator of Accomplice Mechanical Technology at Toyota, Doug Moore is passionate that the car company is not just about automobiles and states that they are “more than simply the immense autos and trucks we construct”.

Toyota is more than simply the immense autos and trucks we construct; we trust we have a part to play in tending to portability challenges, incorporating peopling with restricted versatility accomplish more. We trust this task can possibly advance the lives of individuals who are visually impaired and outwardly weakened

As pointed out by The Huffington Postthis is not the first time that a company has disclosed an invention of this kind. Microsoft collaborated with UK charity Guide Dogs with a similar device that intends to guide the visually impaired successfully around cities. The result of these technologies could pave the way for more complex devices that will include mapping, object identification, and facial recognition.

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