Photo printers superior to the blind

US scientists have successfully developed a new printing system that is capable of producing portraits that blind people can feel and "see".

A portrait and its corresponding, accessible image for the blind.
(Photo: Discovery)

Currently, many software has the ability to read aloud all online content and printers create Braille messages for the blind and the blind. However, there is no easy and fast way to create recognizable images for the blind.

" Facial images play a very important role for people in their social and emotional life ," said Baoxin Li, associate professor of computer science at the University of Arizona (ASU). in software engineering, the Discovery magazine.

According to Li, the printer idea for the blind was inspired by a blind ASU researcher who wanted to gain more access to graphic information. Turning all digital graphics into " seeing " with the blind is really a big challenge, so Li and his associates have focused on individual photos. They have to find the right balance of information so that the blind can recognize the right person in the picture.

" We convert the image so that the prominent facial features are retained, which is important because we can not describe all the tangible features, it will be confusing, disoriented , "Li said.

Instead, the team used a facial pruning algorithm that did not over-simplify it. Their software allows blind users to capture a face, put images into computer application software and automatically create a new printable image. This image is specially typed for visually impaired people with lines outlined by facial features.

"The photo printing process is only a minute away, but the team can improve the technology to shorten this time," Li said.