Vision Assistance Race Tasks

Vision Assistance Race

People with severe impairment or complete loss of vision lack environmental information compromising their autonomy in completing many activities of daily living across multiple domains. Assistive devices such as smart vision assistants are designed to provide information about the environment by rendering the information to other available senses, such as touch or hearing. While there is a wide range of vision aids available on the market using a variety of approaches, their functions are usually restricted to specific domains or are unpractical to use and therefore do not satisfy the user’s needs.

Vision Assistance Race Tasks

Forest

Objects that are located at different heights are (e.g., a tree’s branch that hangs on the walkway) difficult to be detected by blind people but bear a high potential for collisions and injury.

In this task, pilots must navigate through a maze of obstacles which are located at different heights.

Footpath

Blind people use a white cane to detect changes in terrain, such as the boundary between a paved path and the lawn on the side. However, the cane can get stuck on protruding roots, stones or potholes which is unpleasant for the user.

In this task, pilots must follow a path without touching the ground on the side.

Touch Screen

Many user interfaces are nowadays based on touch screens (e.g., vending machines, the menu in restaurants). Their use is primarily based on visual perception, and they rarely provide the necessary accessibility for the blind.

In this task, pilots must navigate a touch screen and order a predefined item from a variety of foods and drinks.

Empty Seats

Finding an empty seat (e.g., when travelling on a train or visiting a theatre) is a challenge for blind people.

In this task, pilots must identify the empty seats.

Events

Teams