New technology: Special 'emitting voice' eyeglasses for people with disabilities

Special glasses made for ESA astronauts (European Space Agency / ESA) today are used for people with disabilities to help them communicate.

It is EyeSpeak , a virtual interactive technology (Augmented Reality / AR) capable of detecting eye movement through a virtual keyboard located inside the glasses. Sentences and words that users (spectacles) look at are spelled by an integrated software and transmitted to speakers mounted on one side of the frame.

The glasses also allow users to surf the web, watch videos and access e-mail, because only that person can see what's shining inside the glasses. While the information appears overlapping inside the glasses, users can continue to see what's happening around them.

EyeSpeak has the ability to detect eye movement through a virtual keyboard located inside the glasses.

"This is the first independent device of this type; can be used anywhere, in any position, regardless of rotation or movement at the user's head , " Teresa Nicolau EyeSpeak expert said.

It was originally a technology designed for astronauts to communicate with ground controllers, when traveling out into space.

Technology for astronauts

This device is the result of a study done for ESA about the astronaut's intuitive tool.

"At that time, the astronauts had only rudimentary systems when walking in space: a checklist must be written on the arm and notified to employees on the ground , " said Joao. Pereira is said by Carmo of ESA.

"We want to exploit technologies that will appear continuously and allow direct translation of important information in astronaut vision when traveling in space , " Pereira said.

The idea of ​​applying this technology to help people with disabilities comes from Ivo Vieira - CEO of Portugal's LusoSpace, who is in charge of research for ESA - when his father is diagnosed with a degenerative disease. .

"We are working on augmented reality for astronauts in 2005, and it is known that my father is ill, and I find it possible to use this technology to improve my father's life through an information system. New mobile, " Vieira said.

Ivo Vieira is testing the EyeSpeak glass sample for her father.(LusoVu).

The first prototype

Muscle atrophy sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease or Charcot - a disease that causes motor neurons to become fibrosis, weakening muscle activity. This disease develops at some point, making it difficult for the patient to communicate with words. However, the movement of the eye is often unaffected by the disease and this is an opportunity to communicate with this new technology.

This guided LusoSpace to produce the first glasses of augmented reality in 2008, and then set up LusoVu to apply this technology to people with disabilities.

After the first steps of technology development, in 2014 a company was deployed in Kickstarter and, in 2015, produced 45 glasses of EyeSpeak models.

The current prototype EyeSpeak 1, released in March 2016, is based on a pair of Epson BT-200 HR models, with a microphone, speakers and a small camera controlled by a microprocessor. A standard voice can be produced or the voice of the owner is recorded in advance.

So from now on, people with disabilities will have an additional tool to help effectively in life, breaking down language barriers and communication.