[accessibleimage] article Seeing-Eye Computer

From another list. An link to the article Seeing-Eye 
Computer Guides Blind from Wired Magazine, text 
vesion of article follows at bottom of list 
  
http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,62810,00.html?tw=wn_story_mailer

and a link to the site at Write State University about it
http://www.wright.edu/cgibin/news_item.cgi?663

Lisa

Seeing-Eye Computer Guides Blind

Helen Keller once said that what a blind person needs is not
a teacher but another self. Researchers are developing a
system that aims to provide
something close -- a computerized "seeing" assistant that
will help blind people read books, access Web pages,
recognize faces and navigate unfamiliar
rooms. 

The portable version of the system, called Tyflos -- Greek
for blind -- consists of a tiny camera mounted on a pair of
glasses, a laptop carried in a
backpack, a headset and a microphone. Designed by
researchers at Wright State University, Tyflos converts the
images recorded by the camera into
verbal messages conveyed to the user. 

Both systems also offer face-recognition capabilities. "It
(Tyflos) has a high probability of recognizing people from
its database -- it compares the color of
their hair, eyes, facial characteristics, and from this can
know who it is," Bourbakis said. 

Getting either system to work in the real world is tricky,
however. "Face recognition can only work right now assuming
the acquisition of the information is
done in an ideal environment," said Sethuraman Panchanathan,
professor of computer science and engineering at ASU.

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