Vision Assistance Race

VIS

About the Discipline

Navigating with smart vision assistive technology

One of the two new disciplines in the CYBATHLON competition! People with severe visual impairment or complete loss of vision lack the most basic information about their environment, which limits their autonomy in completing many activities of daily living. Simple situations such as selecting colour-matching clothes or identifying a desired product in the supermarket can become a challenge. Unexpected road work on the daily commute can lead to hazardous situations. New technologies such as intelligent white cane help to provide information about the environment that is otherwise accessed through vision by rendering the information to the available senses, such as touch or hearing. While there is a wide range of vision aids available on the market, based on a variety of approaches (e.g., computer vision or artificial intelligence), their functions are usually restricted to specific domains (e.g., reading a text aloud or identifying a colour), or are impractical to use. Smart vision assistive technology has the promising potential to improve the quality of life and autonomy of people with severe visual impairment or complete loss of vision. Intuitive and reliable control is crucial for reliable support in everyday life.

The competition tasks will include elements of spatial orientation and personal mobility, such as boarding and leaving a public bus, which must be tackled under a time constraint. Pilots have to be able to recognise the context of a task and avoid obstacles. Some of the competition tasks will contain dynamic elements to which the pilots have to react.

Who can participate?

Pilots:

People who are blind.

Technology:

Many kinds of technologies are allowed, such as smartphones, white canes, or technologies based on augmented reality. The use of any technical modality such as GPS or ultrasound to collect information about the environment is permitted. The assistive device must not disturb people in the surrounding area by excessive noise emission (e.g., for audio feedback). Any type of feedback (e.g., voice, vibration, electric stimulation, etc.) is permitted.

Information for Teams:

Are you a member of a team or interested in more detailed information, click here.

 

Seeing Through Another's Eyes - The different types of sight impairment

Meet the VIS-Teams

VIS

A-Eye (FR)

1 Fan

VIS

EyeRider (HU)

2 Fans

VIS

FlashLight (US)

no fans yet

VIS

NextGuide (CH)

no fans yet

VIS

NextVPU (CN)

no fans yet

VIS

Sight Guide (CH)

1 Fan

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