Touch sensitive watch for visually impaired has been developed by IIT Kanpur

Two researchers from IIT Kanpur have developed a touch­sensitive, tactile, haptic watch that can assist visually impaired humans in learning what time it is via touching the face. 

The watch makes up for two of the dangers of watches made for the use of visually challenged people: first, the lack of privateness in watches that audibly announce the time, and second, the massive sizes of touch-sensitive watches. 

The prototypes had been developed via Siddhartha Panda, who is a professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering and the National Centre for Flexible Electronics at IIT Kanpur, and Vishwaraj Srivastava who is a Senior Project Associate at the Centre.

By coupling the digital camera to the touch­sensitive glove, visually challenged customers can be helped to navigate a digital display screen unfold out earlier than them. Further, if this digital display screen is coupled to a smartphone or ATM, they can function equally even if they are now not capable to see it. This system is nevertheless in the works. 

Both Mr. Srivastava and Prof. Panda say that the initiatives are shut to their hearts as they have been deeply affected by means of human beings shut to them with visible impairment. 

The watch conveys the time in the shape of vibrations when an individual touches the proper spoke on the face. For instance, if the time is 6.15, the watch offers a vibration of the barely lengthy period when the sixth spoke is touched and a brief vibration when the 1/3 spoke is touched. 

“The watches have a decision of 5 minutes proper now, however with an improvement, we are planning, the decision can go up to one minute,” says Mr. Srivastava. They have filed for a patent for the watch. Not simply the easy watch, the researchers have additionally developed a prototype smartwatch that can, in addition to telling the time, measure essential fitness parameters. 

They began working on the watches solely in September 2020 as a section of an older and longer undertaking to advance a device that would assist a visually challenged character interface with a computer. “This was once essentially the low placing fruit,” says Prof. Panda, about the project. 

“The interface is extra problematic and is in the method of being developed.” The watch has been examined with the assist of a character from IIT Kanpur who is visually challenged. The format to have greater formal checking out accomplished soon. 

The different challenge – a laptop user­interface that is pleasant to visually impaired customers ­ is gaining ground. The machine consists of a wearable headset or headband, which is connected to a digicam eye, and a haptic glove. The phrase haptic refers to technological know-how that allows transmission and reception of data via touch.