Dreams 4.0 for people with disabilities

Apart from ethics and humanity, technology development for people with disabilities also brings economic benefits to technology companies.
Douglas Wakefield, 76, is a technologically handicapped visually impaired. On the morning coffee, he listens to the latest news and even reads his favorite books read aloud from his smartphone. Just install the Seeing AI application on your phone to scan the items in the grocery store and even provide instructions on how to use them, so you can easily go shopping instead of having a helper. before.

"Previously you spent £ 500 to buy a computer but paid £ 600 for specialized software," said Robin Spinks, chief strategist at RNIB Solutions, a charity focused on blind people. Persons with limited visibility in the UK advise technology companies - recall.

Now that's the story of the past, as companies are increasingly focusing on integrating features that support people with disabilities into their products.

Free app to help blind people play guitar

Last month, Samsung Electronics Brazil announced the launch of Samsung Audio Acordes (Chords), a free application that teaches blind people how to play the guitar in a smart and practical way. This initiative is part of Samsung Social, a project of Samsung Brazil Electronics that seeks to use technology to tap into the potential of people and motivate them to create the impossible.

With the integrated voice system, Samsung Audio Acordes plays a supporting role for visually impaired people to play the guitar. This application gives beginners an audio dictionary that teaches them how to play chords as well as instruct the user to press chord sequences in the order of the song.

This is especially useful because it eliminates some barriers such as the need to know braille reading, which is only understood by 10% of blind people in Brazil. Users do not need to stop playing halfway, drop the guitar to surf the music.

"Samsung believes in the potential of people and the transformative power of music, as well as the technology that created Samsung Audio Chords," said Andrea Mello, director of corporate marketing at Samsung Electronics Brazil. Part of the company's effort to provide the blind with the opportunity to pursue their guitar learning dream. It is designed to provide comprehensive support and accessibility, even for For those who just started learning the basic chords. "

Artificial intelligence supports people with disabilities

Another big man is Microsoft, which wants to create applications that use artificial intelligence (AI) to help people with disabilities. In July, the company launched the AI ​​for Accessibility Initiative, pledging over the next five years to invest $ 25 million to develop technologies that enable people with disabilities to work, socialize and full participation in modern life.

For example, in March of this year, the company launched the Seeing AI application that can help a lot of blind people. The application is very simple to use when just requiring the user to hold the camera up and pointing to the object they are interested in.

The application responds in a variety of ways depending on what the camera is seeing, such as identifying the faces of the people you are with, telling you the age of the person, their feelings Seeing AI can also help visually impaired people read the text documents they receive.

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, "new technologies such as artificial intelligence not only give Microsoft creative opportunities, but also the responsibility to ensure that all The technology that the firm builds is credible and beneficial to everyone. "

This is also the view of Eve Andersson, who heads the effort to increase access to Google's technology. Under its leadership, Google has developed an entirely Android operating system that can be operated solely by voice, which equips Android with the ability to track "user eye behavior" and launch Google Impact Challenge. , a $ 20 million fund focused on ideas for creating a more accessible world for people with disabilities.

Thanks to the Knowledge Graph algorithm and machine learning technology - Google used to allow you to search for images by describing it, Google now can describe the images in a video. real time. That's the way to help a visually impaired person wear glasses that can update everything going on around them in real time.

Last December, Google added wheelchair accessibility to Maps. This is a feature that has been long awaited and is warmly welcomed by over 3 million wheelchair users across the United States. The latest Waymo safety report, Google's auto-parts department, includes a section on developing features such as braille labels and audio signals.

Technology for the disabled - the market is full of potential

In addition to ethical and humanitarian aspects, technology development for people with disabilities also has significant economic benefits: around 285 million people worldwide have vision limitations, out of a billion people. disabilities. And as people's lifespan increases with mobility constraints, the market will grow rapidly. Companies do not forget that in order to expand their client files, it is important for them to make products that anyone can use.

Moreover, history has shown that in many cases the original technology was designed exclusively for people with disabilities but was later used extensively because of its usability. For example, the eye tracking technology for computer keyboard control initially served only those with motor neurone disease but later became a revolution and promoted many other breakthrough technologies.

Launched in the 1970s, teletext technology is now widely used, but it was originally intended for people with hearing impairment who want to see the subtitles while they are watching. TV.