MIT Fifth Sense Project: Providing the Functions of Sight to Blind People
From: MIT

Our team of researchers at MIT and Northeastern University is developing
wearable devices for blind and low-vision people. These devices combine
sensing, computation and interaction to provide the wearer with timely,
task-appropriate information about the surroundings - the kind of information
that sighted people get from their visual systems, typically without
conscious effort.

Read more about this project on its webpage:
http://people.csail.mit.edu/teller/misc/bocelli.html

Related:
Students develop assistive technologies
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2013/students-develop-assistive-technologies

Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology
http://courses.csail.mit.edu/PPAT/fall2012/index.html
http://courses.csail.mit.edu/PPAT/fall2013/index.html

Seth Teller
http://people.csail.mit.edu/teller/
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/professor-seth-teller-dies
http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=1927