Oxsight gives sight to the visually impaired through virtual reality glasses

Virtual reality Everyone has this word in mouth, a technology that is still recent and is currently developing, many companies are already marketing it. While virtual reality focuses on fun and entertainment, a young British start-up straight out of the prestigious Oxford University called OXSIGHT wants to use virtual reality in another context. Oxsight is part of a simple observation: knowing that about 1% of the population is blind by birth or following an accident, which represents about 70 million people around the world, Oxsight wanted to remedy the problem that spoils the lives of many people by launching glasses called Smart Specs that use virtual reality to reproduce the real view.

This technology is full of promise for millions of people, as is the company producing the device for the hearing impaired. These technologies leave a lot of hope for the future years of these people. We can notice a growing number of start-ups wanting to focus on technologies that can improve the daily lives of people with health problems from existing technologies, such as the virtual reality that comes to the rescue of the visually impaired. OXSIGHT specifies that with the same kind of technology, they will eventually be able to treat the victims of dementia, autism or dyslexia.

Oxsight smart glasses replicate reality

This is a technology that no one can blame for unnecessary gadget. Oxsight’s Smart Specs glasses could change the lives of millions of blind people. The company born in the start-up incubator of the University of Oxford relies on virtual reality to at least partially give sight to the blind.

The idea is eventually to replace canes or guide dogs. These warn you of what is right in front of you but provide you with a general picture of your environment. Oxsight eyewear is based on technologies designed to understand the virtual reality environment. No need for neural connection, operation … Everything happens in the glasses that automatically transmit to the eyes, the image generated.

For now, this technology has mostly been tested on people who have suffered a partial loss of vision. It builds on what is left of vision (detection of light, objects, movement) and amplifies it. Oxsigh adds additional levels of images as a drawing to improve the quality of view. For the moment, no date of arrival on the market nor prices are still known. But the founders are optimistic. They hope eventually to use the same kind of technology to treat the victims of dementia, autism or dyslexia.

On the market

In recent years, several objects have arrived on the market to simplify the lives of the blind. None of them, however, seems as revolutionary as the Oxsight glasses. It’s mainly about helping them to read. Thus, Orcan MyEye, a small camera allows to analyze and read an object. At the MWC 2016, the start-up Dot had positioned itself on a very close concept. She was proposing a connected watch … in braille.

More surprisingly, Toyota is also active in this market. The “Blaid project” launched a year ago is a wearable designed to facilitate the movement of the blind. Thanks to a system of cameras and sensors, it allows them to move more easily in a small space. Directly inspired by the technology of autonomous cars, Blaid is still in the prototype stage.

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