WHEN regular vision doesn't work, try infrared. A science museum in Delhi, India, has installed an infrared navigation system to help visually impaired people find their way.
The system, nicknamed Roshni or "light" in Hindi, was developed by Dhruv Jain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. People download a mobile app with a map of a building, then type or speak their desired location. Small infrared units mounted on walls around the building detect the user and send their whereabouts to the app. From this, the app can then give audio directions like how many steps to take, where to turn and the location of potential hazards such as pillars and fire extinguishers.
Roshni will be presented later this month at a conference on computers and accessibility in Rochester, New York, and has been installed at the National Science Centre in Delhi
Roshni was trialled across four floors of a university building at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, where 10 visually impaired people had the chance to test it for the first time. They negotiated their way through the building more quickly and with less outside assistance than usual. "I feel aware of the surroundings just like someone is speaking to me," said one.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Light beacons help blind people find their way"
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