University Student Creates Jacket with Sensors for the Blind (opens in new tab)

I am blind. I know sensor-thingies since the early 90s. I have to admit, whenever I tried one, it was kind of fun to play with, but eventually turned out to be useless in practice. The problem always boils down to the bandwidth you have for getting input from the sensors. Those based on vibrations have a very limited bandwidth, and those which auralize your environment tend to impede your actual hearing, which is more contraproductive then you might expect.

In general, there is this phenomenon that tech-people, when confronted with the problems of the blind, tend to think there should be simple and cheap solutions. The truth is, there seldomly are any. Whenever someone tried to find a better way to build braille displays then piezzo electrics, they built something with subpar performance or low durability/lifetime. Even when just recently a EU-funded project tries to built an indoor navigation system, they found out during the evaluation phase that what they have produced is not practically useful.

There is cool assistive technology, dont get me wrong. But the barrier to producing something which is useful in real life is higher then most student-project creators might think.

Also blind here, and a computer science student. Biggest problem is the funding, at least from my perspective. Assistive technology is very expensive, and producing it still is extremely complicated.

Pretty much you have to wait for companies like Apple to make things relatively cheap and widely available. For instance, the newest top of the line braille note device is still significantly more expensive than buying the latest iPhone 14 Pro, with a braille display.

If you live in a rich country, the government will pay for it. But those of us from a poor country, cannot really afford it.