Accepting a challenge from the National Federation of the Blind, Mr. Dennis Hong, together with his team, started to invent vehicles for blind people.
For this goal, his team had to take perception, computation and non-visual interfaces into account. Needless to say, the drivers weren't supposed to see, so something had to perceive the road condition or obstacles on it instead. Then his team invented very sophisticated sensor. Next, they needed a computer to accumulate this information and instruct the drivers how to drive. Hence, they devised a special one that was able to consolidate and organize the information, and instruct the blind.
For his team, the problem was how these instructions were conveyed to the visually impaired. To solve this problem, after a lot of trials and errors, finally they made a special interface for non-visual users. This gadget had many holes where compressed air come out, which made blind people image the shape of the roads or the existence of obstacles.
Later, their effort were rewarded. Even though it was just a prototype, but they succeeded in achieving their goal. However, according to him, what is more important is the wonderful technologies that come from their experiments. They may be able to use these technologies to make safer cars for sighted people. They may be able to utilize them to make home appliances for blind people.
Honestly, the saying ”making a car for blind drivers” sounds unrealistic. Many people must have thought he was kind of mad. However, no one could say that it was 100% impossible and actually, they succeeded. I hope he will develop his study more and the vehicle will be made into a product.
For this goal, his team had to take perception, computation and non-visual interfaces into account. Needless to say, the drivers weren't supposed to see, so something had to perceive the road condition or obstacles on it instead. Then his team invented very sophisticated sensor. Next, they needed a computer to accumulate this information and instruct the drivers how to drive. Hence, they devised a special one that was able to consolidate and organize the information, and instruct the blind.
For his team, the problem was how these instructions were conveyed to the visually impaired. To solve this problem, after a lot of trials and errors, finally they made a special interface for non-visual users. This gadget had many holes where compressed air come out, which made blind people image the shape of the roads or the existence of obstacles.
Later, their effort were rewarded. Even though it was just a prototype, but they succeeded in achieving their goal. However, according to him, what is more important is the wonderful technologies that come from their experiments. They may be able to use these technologies to make safer cars for sighted people. They may be able to utilize them to make home appliances for blind people.
Honestly, the saying ”making a car for blind drivers” sounds unrealistic. Many people must have thought he was kind of mad. However, no one could say that it was 100% impossible and actually, they succeeded. I hope he will develop his study more and the vehicle will be made into a product.
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