Toyota's first wearable aims to improve mobility for the blind
Technological advances have opened up new avenues of exploration to people with disabilities. Toyota's Project BLAID aims to develop the first wearable device to help the visually impaired.
When good ideas are shared, mobility is increased for all. See how Toyota is creating technology that will enable the visually impaired to navigate the world more easily.
Toyota is taking a unique turn with its first foray into wearable technology. Rather than investing in smartwatches and fitness trackers, the world's second largest carmaker is developing a device designed to empower the visually impaired.
Project BLAID aims to help people who are blind and visually impaired better navigate the world around them, Toyota Partner Robot Group announced on Monday.
In recent years, new technologies have opened up whole new avenues of communication, dexterity, and exploration to people with disabilities.听Text and video messaging have聽provided the hearing impaired with new ways to communicate. Remote controlled drones and robots have聽helped the bedridden explore beyond their immediate world. Breakthroughs in聽prosthetics have helped amputees regain their agility and dexterity.
Toyota's technology will be a horseshoe-shaped device worn around the shoulders that helps the visually impaired "see" their environment. Equipped with cameras that can identify everyday indoor spaces such as restrooms, escalators, stairs, and doors. BLAID devices can direct visually impaired users toward specific locations through vibrations and speakers.听
鈥淧roject BLAID is one example of how Toyota is leading the way to the future of mobility, when getting around will be about聽,鈥� Simon Nagata, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Toyota Motor North America, says in a press release. 鈥淲e want to extend the freedom of mobility for all, no matter their circumstances, location or ability.鈥�
Toyota engineers and the Toyota Partner Robot Group have been working together for the last four years to understand the needs of the blind community. Project BLAID is a subset of the company鈥檚 outreach initiative, The Toyota Effect.听
Along with sight-assisting technology, Toyota鈥檚 larger outreach initiative includes a partnership with the Yellowstone National Park Foundation to generate zero-emissions power for a ranger center, a partnership with Harbor-UCLA Medical Center to help patients keep their sight, and ACE Metal Crafts to help keep manufacturing jobs in the US.
鈥淕lobally, the United Nations estimates, 650 million people 鈥� 10 percent of the world population 鈥� live with a disability, making them the world鈥檚 largest minority,鈥� reported Monitor correspondent Lee Lawrence. 鈥淭here is no question that, to many with impairments, the modern world can still prove a daunting and sometimes downright inhospitable place.鈥�
While canes, dogs, and other GPS devices help the blind navigate the outdoors, these same aides can鈥檛 direct users to specific indoor locations, such as an exit door.听
鈥淚 think mobility is really at the core of me being ,鈥� says the narrator of a promotional video by Toyota. 鈥淏LAID could change my life.鈥澛�
And such initiatives have the potential to incite widespread change by creating societal awareness. At the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Phil Stafford talks to Lawrence about progress 鈥�on the cultural front.鈥澛�
鈥淚 think that those without disabilities have a kind of taken-for-granted perspective on the world that we are shocked out of when we understand what daily barriers people might encounter,鈥� explains Stafford. 聽聽
In the future, Toyota plans to add facial recognition technology to BLAID devices.听
It is still unclear how much Toyota鈥檚 BLAID technology will cost customers. That's an important factor considering almost half of America鈥檚 20.6 million blind or visually impaired population has a .听