“Intelligent” goggles highlight obstacles for the visually
impaired By David Szondy May 30, 2012 Researchers at the
Universidad Carlos III in Madrid (UC3M), Spain, have developed a
pair of “intelligent” goggles that make getting around a bit
easier for partly-sighted people, by providing them with
Terminator-style vision. Using a pair of cameras mounted on a
virtual reality headset connected to a tiny computer, the device
scans the area ahead of the wearer and displays information
about the scene as color-coded outlines that convey the distance
and shapes of objects that are difficult to otherwise see or
interpret. There are many devices available to help the blind,
and more are rolled out every year. They range from traditional
canes and guide dogs to speaking clocks and watches and tactile
mobile phones. Since the 1960s, a lot of work has gone into
ultrasound devices to provide the blind with a sort of personal
radar for avoiding obstacles. In recent years, this has led to
wrist-mounted sonic navigators, ca