New Edition of Google Glass is for Visually Impaired or Blind People

A new edition of Google Smart Glass called Envision Glasses has been built to help blind people scan faces. navigate their way in new spaces and read documents.

Google Glasses Re-Introduced as an Enterprise Edition Called Envision

Although Google introduced the smart glasses in 2013, the original version was not for visually impaired users. After a limited and rather unsuccessful release, a group of people led by Karthik Kannan started working on Envision as an enterprise edition of the Google smart glasses.

A blind person wearing a pair of Envision gets help from the artificial intelligence designed to help visually impaired or blind wearers better understand their surroundings.

Outfitted with a small camera positioned on the side of the Envision glasses, the camera scans people, objects and text and then relays the captured information to a wearer’s “Ally” by way of a small built-in speaker. That Ally will describe the environment or tell the Envision wearer if someone is approaching. That being the case, the “Ally” feature of the Envision glasses must be turned on. Doing so will enable Envision wearers to make video calls with their family or friends whenever they need help.

The wearable design mainly relies on capturing information, which a user’s ally will relay by describing the environment or reading the document.