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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

VizWiz App Helps Visually Impaired People Distinguish Similarly Shaped Objects



VizWiz is a free app for iOS devices that can help visually impaired people. The app can help visually impaired people distinguish two objects that feel similar. For example if you had two soup cans and did not know which was the chicken soup and which is the vegetable soup. To use the app take a picture of both objects and then record and question with your voice. Your picture will be sent to a real person and they will answer your question. You could ask "is the chicken on the right or on the left." In about a minute you will get a response. The response is no instant because the answers are coming from real people. VizWiz requires an iOS device with a camera.

VizWiz.org describes the app as:
"VizWiz is an iPhone app that allows blind users to receive quick answers to questions about their surroundings. VizWiz combines automatic image processing, anonymous web workers, and members of the user's social network in order to collect fast and accurate answers to their questions."

2 comments:

  1. This is interesting. How long does it take to get a response and what country are the responders?

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  2. I'm glad that you find the blog helpful. You should expect a response to your question within a minute. As for the second question, I think most of the responses come from the US because the app was developed by the University of Rochester. Be responses can come from anywhere in the world

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