Daily Archives: August 20, 2013
Google Glass is a revolutionary new device that combines a wearable computer with a head-up-display and voice control. Google Glass can be programmed to perform a number of tasks, many of which promise to be very useful for people with disabilities.
For instance, a young programmer/entrepreneur in Stanford has created a facial recognition programmer that helps people with autism recognize and respond to other people’s emotions via Google Glass’s onboard camera and computer.
“As you slip on the Google Glass frames – placing them carefully over your own eyeglasses – you’re told they can read the emotions of the people around you.
These Google Glass frames run an experimental application cooked up by the person you’re looking at – the guy who keeps moving from happiness to surprise and back again. His name is Catalin Voss, and he’s all of 18 years old.
With help from Google Glass, Voss and his co-founder, Jonathan Yan, hope to create a face-tracking engine that can help people to better recognize and understand the expressions and emotions of others. The tool would be a natural for treating autism and related disorders.”
Google Glass is also helping people with severe paralysis return to the hobbies they love.
“It’s been 18 years since Tammie Lou Van Sant held a camera. But nearly two decades after a car accident left her paralyzed from the chest down, Van Sant is shooting again – thanks to a device that could be part of technology’s next big trend.
Google’s Glass headset, which connects to users’ smartphones and displays information on a screen that hovers above one eye, is the first of what analysts say may be a new trend of wearable technology – headsets, watches, fitness trackers and other devices that are worn, rather than slipped into a pocket”
Over the last few decades, devices such as motorized wheelchairs and TDD phones have allowed people to increase their independence and freedom and rely less on those around them for their basic day-to-day needs. Now with Google Glass, the convenience and features of a smartphone are now within the reach of a much wider audience, allowing people with disabilities new ways to share their lives and interact with others.
