[Editors] MIT develops camera for the blind

[Elizabeth Thomson]

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MIT develops camera for the blind
--Visually challenged MIT poet’s ‘seeing machine’ allows sight- 
impaired to take, see photos
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For Immediate Release
MONDAY, JAN. 12, 2009

Contact: Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT News Office
E: thomson at mit.edu, T: 617-258-5402

Photo Available

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Elizabeth Goldring smiles as she shows a visitor  
photos she’s taken — and can see — with her blind eye.

The demonstration comes more than 20 years after Goldring, a senior  
fellow at MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and colleagues  
began work on a “seeing machine” that can allow some people who are  
blind or visually challenged to access the Internet, view the face of  
a friend and much more.

The team has moved from Goldring’s inspiration, a large diagnostic  
device costing some $100,000, to a $4,000 desktop version, to the  
current seeing machine, which is portable and inexpensive. “We can  
make one for under $500,” Goldring said.

Although the device can be connected to any visual source, such as a  
video camera or desktop computer, Goldring especially enjoys using it  
with a photo camera. “When someone has a diminished sense, the  
inability to express yourself with that sense can be frustrating,” she  
said. By taking photos, “I feel I’m able to express myself visually  
with my blind eye, and there’s value in that, I think.”

Further, “it’s light enough that I really want to take it with me when  
I go for a walk.” (Goldring, who is visually challenged, has enough  
sight in one eye to permit mobility.)

Goldring’s idea for the seeing machine began with a visit to her  
optometrist. At the time, she was completely blind.
To determine if she had any healthy retina left, technicians peered  
into her eyes with a scanning laser opthalmoscope, or SLO. With the  
machine they projected a simple image directly onto the retina of one  
eye, past the hemorrhages within the eye that contributed to her  
blindness.

She was indeed able to see the test image. So she asked if they could  
write the word “sun.” “And I was amazed that I was able to read a  
word!” Goldring said.

She went on to use the device for other visual experiences. For  
example, video of her doctor was transmitted through the SLO, and for  
the first time she saw his face.

But although the SLO held promise for the broader blind public, it had  
serious drawbacks — including its prohibitive cost. Goldring  
determined to develop a more practical, accessible machine.

She began collaborating with people such as Rob Webb, the SLO’s  
inventor and a senior scientist at the Schepens Eye Research  
Institute, Harvard University, and dozens of MIT students. Those  
involved in the current machine are Yifei Wu, an MIT senior who began  
the work as a freshman and has been instrumental in developing the  
seeing-machine camera; Brandon Taylor, a graduate student at the MIT  
Media Lab; and Quinn Smithwick, a postdoctoral associate in the same  
lab.

The portable device is relatively inexpensive in part because it  
replaces the laser of the SLO with light-emitting diodes (LEDs),  
another source of high-intensity light that is much cheaper.

Further, “everything in it is already mass-produced for other  
purposes,” said Taylor. He also noted that since the seeing-machine  
project began, “LCDs and other components have gotten much smaller and  
are readily available.”

The portable seeing machine is about five inches square and mounted on  
a flexible tripod that makes it easy to carry. A digital camera is  
attached to the top. The visual feed from the camera travels into the  
seeing machine to a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) illuminated by LEDs.  
(This is the same kind of LCD common in cameras and TVs.)

The visual data is then focused into a single “point” that travels  
into the eye. “This is not magnification,” said Smithwick. “What makes  
this work is focusing the data into a tiny spot of light.”

What’s next? Goldring aims to show the new machine to other visually  
challenged people and looks forward to their feedback. Plans are  
underway to test it at the Low Vision Clinic at the Joslin Diabetes  
Center’s Beetham Eye Institute in Boston.

This work was supported by NASA and by MIT’s School of Architecture  
and Planning, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Undergraduate  
Research Opportunities Program, and Council for the Arts.

--END--

Written by Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT News Office
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