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IPFS News Link • Science, Medicine and Technology

AI-Powered Backpack For Blind People To Replace Guide Dogs

• https://www.zerohedge.com, by Tyler Durden

The ground-breaking system is embedded within a backpack and connected to several sensors in a vest. Audio notifications are relayed to the visually impaired wearer about the environment around them via a Bluetooth earpiece.

Jagadish K. Mahendran, a Computer Vision/Artificial Intelligence Engineer from the University of Georgia's Institute for Artificial Intelligence, is the revolutionary device's brainchild. 

Shown below is the vision system backpack using a computer algorithm to identify objects in a real-life environment. The device tells the wearer a stop sign and a crosswalk are ahead. 

Mahendran said his team was motivated by earlier work on robotic vision. "Last year, when I met up with a visually impaired friend, I was struck by the irony that while I have been teaching robots to see, there are many people who cannot see and need help," he said.


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