Panaji: People with vision problems need an empathetic companion to call out obstacles, a trustworthy aide to count cash, and a reliable friend to recognise faces — an AI-powered wearable device rolls all that help into a two-piece set.
The device, which does not need the internet, was launched at the International Purple Fest in Panaji on Saturday.
The ‘HearSight Audio Vision’ device has 21 features, including the capacity to identify and announce for the users any obstacle that lies in the 4-7 feet range in front of them. The facial-recognition feature detects up to 200 people’s faces pre-registered on the device and announces their names when they appear in front of the user.
With its currency-identifying capability, the device can scan multiple Indian currency notes, read out their denominations, and tally the total value.
At present, most AI tools used in healthcare don’t have any business-to-consumer (B2C) interaction. Worldwide, the trend is to develop “responsible AI”, said Dr Shibu Vijayan, medical director of Qure.ai, an Indian firm that works with the World Health Organisation and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation among others to diagnose diseases ranging from tuberculosis to lung cancer.
The trend among companies such as Qure.ai is to first send the AI-derived data to experts for an evaluation and not directly share it with patients. If AI is used in an assistance device in the B2C sector, then ethics demand a more thorough evaluation. In March 2023, the Union department of health research and the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Artificial Intelligence Cell released the initial ethical guidelines about the use of AI in biomedical research and healthcare in India.
The agencies had said that the guidelines were not supposed to limit innovation but to guide “effective yet safe development, deployment and adoption of AI-based technologies” in biomedical research and healthcare delivery.
So the Purple Fest, in a way, became a testing ground for assistance devices meant for the B2C sector.
As for HearSight Audio Vision, the device comprises a headband and a processor. The headband has no battery and hence does not heat up and is totally radiation-free, said one of the developers, Arun Prakash. The processor is lightweight and once charged, can operate for seven hours.
The user can choose the hands-free mode and command the device in their own voice.
The CEO and MD of the Coimbatore company that created the device, Timothy Vedanayagam, told TOI, “People with visual impairments had to download several apps for different purposes. Here, we have developed a single device and integrated all the required features into it.” He said more features will be packed into the device.
“More importantly, we ensured that all these features are available offline so that lives don’t come to a standstill when there’s poor or no internet connection,” Vedanayagam said.
The device offers content narration in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and other languages through headphones, ensuring privacy and convenience.
As AI becomes more entrenched in everyday life, new safeguards will have to be devised, experts said. “With any AI tool, a manufacturer has to be able to explain the processes in a transparent manner and possess peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals about the tool and have clarity on liability,’’ said Dr Vijayan.
