New Device Puts Vision Impaired in the Picture
From: Monash University - 04/28/2011

Monash University researchers have developed GraVVITAS, a device designed to
make it easier for the visually impaired to access graphical information.
GraVVITAS is a standard tablet PC with touchscreen technology that uses
vibration and sounds to guide the user around a diagram. The device provides
greater access to graphical information and enables visually impaired users
to build a picture of the entire diagram in their mind. GraVVITAS has small
external vibrating motors that attach to the user's finger, and they buzz
when an object displayed on the screen is touched. The voice prompts and
sounds also help guide the user to read the diagram, says Monash PhD student
Cagatay Goncu, who is working with professor Kim Marriott and Vision
Australia on the device. "The basic idea is to guide the user to find the
object by using sound," Goncu says. "Touching the object causes the sound to
stop and a voice explains what that object is and any other information
associated with it."  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.monash.edu.au/news/show/new-device-puts-vision-impaired-in-the-picture
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-device-vision-impaired-picture.html
http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-device-puts-vision-impaired-in-the-picture

Links:
Kim Marriott
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~marriott/

Cagatay Goncu
http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/staff/Cagatay-Goncu
http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/staff/cagatay/