AIris: An AI-powered Wearable Assistive Device for the Visually Impaired

TL;DR

AIris is a wearable device that uses AI to provide visually impaired users with real-time environmental descriptions, enhancing spatial awareness through auditory feedback in a cost-effective and user-friendly manner.

Contribution

This paper introduces AIris, a novel AI-powered wearable that combines advanced scene recognition with natural language processing for improved assistive technology.

Findings

Accurately identifies objects and scenes in real-world conditions.

Supports multiple tasks like face recognition, text reading, and barcode scanning.

Demonstrates effective real-time environmental awareness for users.

Abstract

Assistive technologies for the visually impaired have evolved to facilitate interaction with a complex and dynamic world. In this paper, we introduce AIris, an AI-powered wearable device that provides environmental awareness and interaction capabilities to visually impaired users. AIris combines a sophisticated camera mounted on eyewear with a natural language processing interface, enabling users to receive real-time auditory descriptions of their surroundings. We have created a functional prototype system that operates effectively in real-world conditions. AIris demonstrates the ability to accurately identify objects and interpret scenes, providing users with a sense of spatial awareness previously unattainable with traditional assistive devices. The system is designed to be cost-effective and user-friendly, supporting general and specialized tasks: face recognition, scene description, text reading, object recognition, money counting, note-taking, and barcode scanning. AIris marks a transformative step, bringing AI enhancements to assistive technology, enabling rich interactions with a human-like feel.