Source -
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/smart-help-for-blind-wins-indian-mit-innovator-award/121534.html
Smart help for blind wins Indian MIT innovator award
- by Aditi Tandon, Tribune News Service, New Delhi, August 18, 2015
When Rohan Paul started working on an electronic navigation device for the
visually-challenged during his under-graduation at IIT Delhi in 2005, he
had no idea where the innovation would lead him.
Today SmartCane, the device, has earned Rohan the honour of being MIT
Technology Review’s Innovator Under-35 for 2015.
The award was presented at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
today, with the scale of Rohan’s achievement clear from the list of past
winners, which includes Google’s cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin,
Facebook’s cofounder Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s chief designer Jonathan
Ive.
The introduction to Rohan’s work, featured in the latest edition of MIT
Technology Review, reads: “To create an affordable obstacle detection
system for blind people, this MIT postdoc began by simply asking them what
they needed.” Each year since 1999, the Editors of MIT Technology Review,
have selected exceptionally talented young innovators whose work they
believe has the greatest potential to transform the world; 35 innovators
are selected annually.
Ask 30-year-old Rohan how it all began and he recalls his 2005 visit to the
National Institute for the Blind in Delhi. The visit was part of an IIT
course that required students to develop solutions for real-life problems,
something Prime Minister Narendra Modi now calls “Make in India”.
“We heard how the visually challenged get injured after hitting high
objects the white canes they carry can’t detect. These objects can be
trucks, branches, open windows, parked vehicles or just walkers. SmartCane
was born out of the urge to help such people,” says Paul, currently at
MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Labs as a postdoc.
Created as a student project at IIT Delhi by Rohan, his IIT teachers, NGO
Saksham and industry partner Phoenix Medical Devices, Chennai, SmartCane
was launched last year. It hopes to reach over a million people worldwide.
Rohan explains why the product is important, saying, “It is a sleek
handle-shaped attachment which fits on the traditional white cane the
visually challenged already carry. During tests in 2012, users reported 95
per cent fewer collisions with SmartCane. It sends out vibrations of
different kinds to alert the users.” The device costs Rs 3,000; comparable
devices globally cost Rs 65,000 plus. Also, while the traditional white
cane can detect only low hanging objects from 0.5 meters, SmartCane can
detect low and knee-above obstacles from three meters. It, therefore,
prevents unwanted contact.
Showing e-way to visually impaired
A postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rohan Paul has
invented SmartCane, an electronic navigation device, for the visually
challenged
The device, which costs Rs 3,000, fits on the traditional white cane
and sends out vibrations to users in case of any obstacle on their way.
A former student of IIT Delhi, Rohan got the motivation to create the
device when he visited the National Institute for the Blind in Delhi in
2005.
End of article.
Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of
mobile phones / Tabs on:
http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in
Search for old postings at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/
To unsubscribe send a message to
accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in
with the subject unsubscribe.
To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please
visit the list home page at
http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
Disclaimer:
1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the
person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity;
2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent
through this mailing list..
