Almería students invent 'obstacle-detecting' glasses for the blind

A TEAM of students from Almería University have designed a pair of glasses that allows the blind and visually-impaired to 'see' obstacles in their way, giving them far greater independence.

Using Bluetooth and GPS technology and with potential to link up to other databases and information sources in the future, the Liberty Delta sunglasses use sensors to pick up everything from lamp posts to motorbikes illegally parked on the pavement.

A radar sends ultrasound waves out, and the time it takes these to return allows the glasses to calculate the distance between the wearer and the obstacle.

The prototype (in the above picture, by the Liberty Delta team) uses cables, but the team says their design has evolved since the early stages of testing so as to be completely wireless.

Second-year industrial electronics engineering student Antonio Daniel Guerreo says the wearer also has 'bands' on his or her feet which vibrate and pulsate at different rhythms to let them know when they are approaching an obstacle and to guide them on which direction to move in to avoid it.

Aidas Dackus, in his second year of a mechanical engineering degree, says the idea came up during the Ideas Factory Summit at the end of March in Sevilla.

“We had one minute to come up with an idea, and all participants voted on them,” Dackus explains.

“Nine of the initial 18 [which included three from Almería University, or UAL] went on to the 'Sevilla phase' and presented our ideas in the final.

“Next, we demonstrated it in the UAL Ideas Fair, where we won two prizes – one for Best Entrepreneurial Project, and one from [the disability support association] Verdiblanca.”

Dackus, Guerreo and their team mate Alejandro Pino, a third-year IT engineering student, were asked to join a summer course called 'Innovation for Diversity: New Technologies Applied to Diverse Abilities in the 21^st Century' and run by Verdiblanca, which extended the invitation to the three undergraduates because it was 'so impressed' with their invention.

The original Liberty Delta project was originally a pair of trainers with sensors, but the design gradually evolved into sunglasses instead.