Standing on a street corner one snowy Oakland evening, Priya Narasimhan watched a blind man struggle to catch a bus.
She felt inspired to help in some way.
So began Trinetra—the Sanskrit word for the powerful third eye of the Hindu god—an affordable, smartphone-enabled software that helps the visually impaired with daily activities. Still in the development stage, the technology uses Bluetooth-enabled cell phones to read barcode information to identify grocery store items. It also helps read bus schedules and determine currency.
Using this technology, a visually impaired person can shop for groceries without assistance and may distinguish between products in the refrigerator, Narashimha explains. Using a bar code-reading pencil, the scanned product is sent via the wireless headset to an Internet-enabled cell phone. The phone communicates with a public database, which translates the bar code into a recognizable product name. The technology has unlimited implications for future technologies as well, she adds.
Narasimhan, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at CMU, is looking for a commercial partner. She plans to put it on the market early next year. “This hasn’t let go of me, it has consumed my passion as we hope to get this in blind people’s hands without a huge mark up.”
Trinetra and her company BeaconSys Inc. was personally financed with an additional $7,500 from the state-run Pennsylvania Cyber Security Commercialization Initiative. To join the mailing list for future product updates, click here.
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Priya Narasimhan
Image courtesy of Priya Narasimhan