Phone applications targeted toward the blind and the visually impaired are becoming more and more popular. In fact, we just covered a new app designed for the blind yesterday. To that extent, Aipoly Vision is another impressive example of apps that are opening up the world for the visually impaired....and even those with color blindness.
What it Does
The free app for iPhone/iPad is able to quickly identify objects and colors using affordable, cutting edge technology. The identification is instant. A voice names each object in addition to displaying the object's name.
Scott Blanks, Deputy Director of the Lighthouse Center for the Blind, shared his opinion of the application:
I can see this changing the way that I walk down the street. The exploration, the willingness to investigate something more than I would otherwise do if I didn’t have immediate assistance from a fellow bystander or pedestrian, or the ability to get the information from some other app. This has a lot of power, and I really can see it completely changing the way that I get from one place to another.
How it Works
The AI in the app is able to understand what your phone's camera sees using a multi-layered neural network. The interface constantly updates live at 3 frames per second. The database, which resides on the phone itself, knows about 800 objects right from the start. This year, that number should grow to a few thousand.
Soon, the company hopes that the app will be able to understand complex scenes. It can tell you "a dog is near a lamp post." Relationships between items, and objects' locations within a scene become clear. Aipoly can even learn new objects. Just type in their description, and they'll be added to the database. The team asserts that the app will become more knowledgeable as it grows.
Anyone can help the app learn. Download it now to add your knowledge to the pool!
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