These Amazingly Smart VR Glasses Are Letting Blind People See Again Like Never Before
In fact, some even say eSight brings the blind better vision than the average sighted person.
Technology may be exciting when it¡¯s giving us more powerful smart devices, or helping us immerse ourselves in a virtual world, or even meet new people online. But tech really gives the greatest gift when it can change people¡¯s lives.
Images courtesy: eSight
That¡¯s exactly the case with eSight, a new pair of smart glasses that aims to bring sight to the blind. It may look like an everyday VR headset, but the device can actually help people with partial blindness, even those declared legally blind under law, function normally in their day-to-day life.
For people with serious vision impairment even regular everyday activities can be cumbersome, require meticulous special arrangements and sometimes even an extra person to help. With eSight however, it¡¯s users have reported a drastic change in their lifestyle.
eSight is built like the Playstation VR headset, only smaller. It has a pair of corrective glasses built in, in case the magnification needs to be adjusted for the user, but the core of the device is a high-speed camera that points in the direction you¡¯re looking, and a pair of OLED displays in front of your eyes. The camera captures your surroundings in vivid clarity, and the footage is cleaned up and adjusted to the wearer¡¯s particular vision issues before being streamed to the displays. The best part is that it¡¯s also completely portable, with about six hours of battery life available. You don¡¯t necessarily need to take off the device when you¡¯re not using it for a bit, just raise the visor for it to lock in at forehead level.
The thing is, eSight enhances whatever video is captured by the device¡¯s camera, buffing it to such an extent that, in some case, the vision-impaired user actually has 20/20 sight. There¡¯s even an HDMI port on board so you can watch a movie directly through the lenses, instead of having to watch a TV footage through the headset.
The only problem is, the eSight costs about $10,000 (approximately Rs 6,40,000). That¡¯s way to rich for most pockets, even people who might sorely need an aid device like this. To offset this, eSight is planning to offer a financing plan to buy the headset in installments, and even ways for others to donate the device to causes.
And who knows, maybe we¡¯ll one day soon be able to completely do away with blindness entirely.
