Beyond the mind's eye

Visually challenged MIT poet's 'seeing machine' allows photos by the sight-impaired


Elizabeth Goldring smiles as she shows a visitor photos she's taken -- and can see -- with her blind eye.

The demonstration comes more than 20 years after Goldring, a senior fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and colleagues began work on a "seeing machine" that can allow some people who are blind or visually challenged to access the Internet, view the face of a friend and much more.

The team has moved from Goldring's inspiration, a large diagnostic device costing some $100,000, to a $4,000 desktop version, to the current seeing machine, which is portable and inexpensive. "We can make one for under $500," Goldring said.

Source:http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/camera-blind-0113.html
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