ISight: An Object Recognition Application for Visually Impaired Individuals

ABSTRACT

Assistive technologies to aid the visually impaired have evolved over time from screenreading

software, magnification programs and daisy book readers, there are a plethora of

devices to aid the visually impaired in their daily activities. Despite the established utility

of such devices they face certain limitations that have hindered their widespread adoption,

such as cost, stigma attached to using the product in public, and lack of continued support

for the product. In this time smartphones, smartphone camera technology and mobile

applications have become a staple of modern life and have rapidly improved since their

introductions. This alongside the rapid developments in computer vision and machine

learning, especially on mobile devices provide a perfect platform for developing a mobile

application solution. Whilst there are similar solutions available, they also have certain

shortcomings. iSight provides an intuitive user experience, using TensorFlow Lite object

recognition, where users can simply scan their surroundings and click anywhere on the

screen to receive verbal feedback of the objects in their environment