A future vision: The Next Generation of Smart Glasses for the visually impaired
By Stuart Beveridge
It’s more than fair to say, that since November of 2020 when the first genuine pair of smart glasses for visually impaired people was released, that the competition in this particular market has evolved and is growing at a phenomenal rate as more and more companies are entering the space with ideas on how to solve age old problems we experience in our daily lives. These issues mainly relate to problems with reading and identifying text, navigating safely, locating objects and having a clear idea of your surroundings.
In terms of reading text and detailed scene descriptions, there are many different solutions currently available whether it’s an app on a smartphone or a specialist device. However, the two issues I personally find most challenging are navigating safely when both indoors and outdoors and locating different objects accurately and with confidence, which could be about to change, thanks to a new pair of smart glasses currently in development called Seva Vision.
While these glasses are still under development, I am now testing the software for the developers and the results, even at this early stage have been rather extraordinary and already have the potential to be extremely unique, life changing and can give information and details which are different to any other similar device I have previously tested.
Now in all honesty, the text reading features on these glasses are still quite basic and do need more work, but there is a lot to like and when it works, it really does work well. The scene description feature is very detailed, but this sort of AI is already being used on lots of different devices, though it will be a massive and integral part of these glasses going forward. It’s the “navigation” and “find object” features which have really got me excited. Again, I’ve used similar features on other devices before, but none of them come anywhere close to matching the level of accuracy and detail in the Seva Vision Glasses.
Most other devices will just give a general description of objects such as “there is a table and two chairs in front of you.” You have no idea how far away the items actually are or exactly where they are actually located. However, the Seva Vision Glasses take this to the next level by giving the exact location of objects and how far away they are, which gives me access to more information than I have ever had before. Similarly, when using the “navigation” feature, audio instructions are given on where there are clear paths and the direction to go, but they then go the extra mile by giving additional information such as “walk for three meters and follow the wall on your right.”, which could be extremely useful for cane users in particular. The Seva glasses also have some other interesting features such as face recognition, magnification and an SOS feature which allows you to call a designated contact in an emergency.
Some final points to make are that is that while most similar devices require a smartphone app to drive them in some way, the Seva Vision Glasses can be used completely on there own without the need for a mobile phone tether. They can be controlled via a touchpad or most interestingly, completely by voice activated commands, meaning that I have a completely hands free solution which is a huge help, especially when using my Guide Dog and if you were to purchase the Seva glasses, they are supplied with a wi-fi dongle, a portable battery and magnetic charger, so you never need to worry about over use, you can actually charge them while wearing and using them.
So to sum-up, while these glasses are definitely still in development, it’s already great to be part of the journey and I personally can’t wait to see where they go from here, as their potential is huge. New and long lasting hardware is currently in the pipeline as well, so extremely exciting times ahead.
Link to Seva Vision website: