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#Post#: 2723--------------------------------------------------
Devices To Help the Impaired Lead Normal Lives
By: AGelbert Date: February 23, 2015, 6:54 pm
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Putting SUNU to the test
Agelbert NOTE: This would be useful to a sighted person moving
in total darkness too! ;D
Rob, a Perkins student, uses the navigational wristband SUNU to
locate doorways during a testing session for the device (Graphic
at link).
December 30, 2014
By Alix Hackett
No one likes waiting in line at the bank, least of all Perkins
teacher Kate Katulak. Because she is visually impaired, Katulak
sometimes has trouble keeping tabs on the person in front of
her, which can lead to some awkward moments.
“With a guide dog you have to constantly ask people, ‘Excuse me,
are you moving up?’” she explained. “And if I say ‘forward’ to
my dog she’s going to lead me right around people… so I cut a
lot of lines.”
Enter SUNU (formerly known as Ustraap), a wristband that uses an
ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacles and vibrate as they come
closer. Someone wearing SUNU while waiting in line can feel the
vibrations lessening as the person in front of them advances,
prompting them to move forward themselves.
Katulak was able to try the product for herself during a recent
two-day testing session run by SUNU and Perkins Products to
gather feedback on the wristband, which is still in the
prototype phase. Perkins Products staff formed a makeshift line,
and Katulak practiced moving forward an appropriate distance
behind them. On the first try, she was able to mirror the
movement of the person in front of her.
“The band pulsated, and the pulsation kept getting lighter and
lighter so I moved toward you,” she said. “That’s pretty cool.”
SUNU touts itself primarily as a navigational device, designed
to help people who are blind avoid low-hanging tree branches or
find doorways in a room. But during testing, SUNU’s chief
strategy officer Fernando Albertorio was interested in hearing
what other uses people came up with after wearing the wristband
for the first time.
“To be honest with you, this is a use we hadn’t even thought
of,” he said, referring to standing in line. “These two days are
really about learning as much as we can in order to make
improvements to the product and inform our launch and how we
market it.”
SUNU and Perkins have been working together ever since SUNU
(then known as Ustraap) won the Perkins Technology Sidecar Prize
as part of MassChallenge, a Boston-based competition for
entrepreneurs. Once a prototype of the band was developed,
Albertorio tapped Perkins Products Director Joe Martini to
recruit testers for the device who might use it in different
ways.
“It hadn’t been tested with people who use guide dogs,
individuals with low vision, or people who are deafblind,” said
Martini.
During testing, each user donned a SUNU band and practiced using
the vibration feedback to gauge distances, avoid obstacles and
locate doorways. In one exercise, Albertorio held a plastic tree
branch out at eye level, and asked testers to stop before
walking into it. Perkins Products technology specialist Joann
Becker, who uses a cane to navigate, said walking into stray
branches is one of her biggest pet peeves. During the test, she
strode quickly toward the branch, but stopped just inches away
from it.
“Wow,” she said. “I could feel that it was there all of a
sudden. I knew if I kept going, I would hit it.”
Perkins trainer Milissa Garside, another tester, wasn’t as
worried about hitting things at eye level. “I’m short, so I
don’t run into a lot of that,” she said, but like most people
who tried SUNU, she had ideas for other uses.
“I would love to use this to locate a (traffic) light pole when
I want to press the ‘walk’ button,” she said. “This would be so
helpful, you have no idea.”
HTML http://www.perkins.org/stories/news/putting-sunu-to-the-test
[img width=640
height=320]
HTML http://sunu.io/assets/img/banner-what2.png[/img]
Video by the Corporation making this great device at link.
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/8.gif
They have tiny accessory transponders that can be attached to
keys or other small objects so visually impaired people can find
tagged misplaced objects quickly.
HTML http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/2thumbs.gif
HTML http://sunu.io/
#Post#: 2740--------------------------------------------------
Re: Devices To Help the Impaired Lead Normal Lives
By: AGelbert Date: February 25, 2015, 5:36 pm
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Thanks to new bionic eyes, watch a man see his wife for the
first time in 10 years
HTML http://dl5.glitter-graphics.net/pub/3328/3328805eipbi6o30e.gif
by
Jen Hayden
Allen Zderad sees his wife for the first time in more than a
decade.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have take a few huge leaps
forward in using "bionic eyes," known as the "Second Sight"
system, to restore sight for the blind. Last week, Allen Zderad
became the 15th person in the U.S. to test the technology:
It’s a medical story, a science and technology advancement and a
romance wrapped into one moment: when a man who is blind sees
his wife again for the first time in a decade.
Allen Zderad began to have serious vision problems about 20
years ago due to retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye
disease affecting the retina.
There is no effective treatment or cure. It ended his
professional career and after a decade he was effectively blind,
unable to see anything other than very bright light. He
adjusted, even continuing woodworking by developing his sense of
touch and spatial relationships. But he was unable to see his
family, including ten grandchildren or his wife, Carmen.
Watch as doctors turn on the device, allowing Allen to see his
wife and children for the first time
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu5099aJWcU&feature=player_embedded
"It's crude, but it's significant. It works," he rejoiced,
through tears.
.........
"I have a lot of fun with my grandkids and family. I think it
would be good to recognize when they come in the room, and
observe their growing and things like that. My grandkids in
Oregon love playing hide and seek – they don't have to hide
anywhere except for a corner of a room," Zderad laughed again.
Retinitis pigmentosa is inherited and Zderad's 13-year-old
grandson has already been diagnosed with the eye disease. This
incredible technology is giving new hope to the entire Zderad
family.
HTML http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/23/1366297/-Thanks-to-new-bionic-eyes-watch-a-man-see-his-wife-for-the-first-time-in-10-years
#Post#: 2752--------------------------------------------------
Re: Devices To Help the Impaired Lead Normal Lives
By: AGelbert Date: February 27, 2015, 5:30 pm
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[img width=640
height=220]
HTML http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/color-blind-glasses-before-after-EnChroma-720px.jpg[/img]
EnChroma Cx Glasses for Colorblindness Now Available (VIDEO)
HTML http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130526134221/plantsvszombies/images/8/84/Sunflower-HQ.png
by Editors on Dec 11, 2014
Just the other day we reported on new technology that corrects
TV signals for colorblind people, and now we learn of new
glasses that can make the entire world seem more colorful and
vivid. The EnChroma Cx glasses from EnChroma, a Berkeley,
California company, effectively provide high color contrast,
producing an image in which the primary colors of red, blue, and
green “pop” and are perceived correctly by the wearer.
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/za4.gif
The technology within the polycarbonate lenses is called Digital
Color Boost because it has a very precise filtering of the color
spectrum, allowing three ranges of wavelengths of light to come
through while preventing much of the others from reaching the
eyes. This is done using about 100 layers of a dielectric
material, each only a few nanometers thick, that selectively
screen light as it’s coming through.
The EnChroma Cx glasses are now available in styles or children
and adults, including sport models that will help colorblind
athletes at the very least to distinguish between different team
jerseys. Moreover, they can be produced to prescription specs if
colorblindness is not the only eye condition that these glasses
may help with.
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l3FJBQdKUQ&feature=player_embedded
[center]
HTML http://dl6.glitter-graphics.net/pub/2752/2752256x4e962185l.gif<br
/> [img width=80
height=70]
HTML http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/yayayoy/yayayoy1106/yayayoy110600019/9735563-smiling-sun-showing-thumb-up.jpg[/img]<br
/>[/center]
HTML http://www.medgadget.com/2014/12/enchroma-cx-glasses-for-colorblindness-now-available-video.html
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