A Dutch startup Envision partnered with Google Glass to develop AI glasses. They will help blind and visually impaired people see things.
The glasses can extract information from images of people, objects, and public transportation, and then tell the wearer in words. It can read text on books, remember friends’ faces and corresponding names, and describe the surrounding environment, such as train and warning signs. The visually impaired wearer can use the glasses to read the recipe on the cookbook. Say, they can go to the grocery store to find the ingredients. And then, they can go home and cook for themsleves.
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The device was developed by Envision, based in The Hague, The Netherlands, and worked with Google Glass. Envision claims that it uses currently the fastest and most accurate optical character recognition (OCR) software. It is capable of reading any text in more than 60 languages from any type of surface, from food labels to handwriting.
Envision developed the software for the much-maligned Google Glass, which flopped as a consumer product but lives on in the enterprise as a hands-free computing assistant in warehouses and factory floors.
According to the International Blindness Prevention Agency (IAPB), of the 7.3 billion people worldwide, 253 million are visually impaired. Moreover, 36 million of them are blind and 217 million are moderate to severe visually impaired.
At present, the smart glasses can be booked on Envision’s official website. There are two options to choose from, and the price is 1499 euros and 1699 euros, respectively. After shipping starts in August 2020, the official retail price will reach 1899 euros.