Aira Visual Interpreter for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Author: Ian C. Langtree - View Credentials
Published: 5 Jan 2017 - Updated: 7 Oct 2018

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Overview - Related Content

Synopsis

Aira visual interpreter for visually impaired brings greater mobility, independence and self confidence to blind.

Overview

From exploring new neighborhoods and restaurants in the city, to traveling the globe - Aira empowers the blind to experience their world and surroundings like never before.

Aira is focused on developing transformative remote assistive technology and services that bring greater mobility, independence and self confidence to blind and visually impaired individuals by connecting them, in an Uber style, to a network of certified Agents.

The seeds for starting Aira were planted in 2014 when Suman Kanuganti and Yuja Chang struck up a friendship with a blind communications professional Matt Brock. This led them to begin discussing how Google Glass technology could be used to help the blind and visually impaired become more mobile and independent.

According to the American Foundation for the Blind there are an estimated 20 million blind and low-vision people in the United States.

Aira's goal is to develop leading technology and services that help remove remaining barriers for the visually impaired, expanding their possibilities to live with greater confidence and independence.

How Aira Works

Aira's high-tech approach uses a real-time interactive cloud-based dashboard, built to create for the blind an augmented reality context with live data streams from cameras, GPS, and other sensor systems from wearable platforms such as Google Glass and Pivothead. This allows Aira's remote Agents to render live personalized assistance to users in a myriad of daily activities - ranging from navigating busy city streets and catching a bus, to ordering meals from menus at restaurants and literally traveling the globe.

Aira demonstrations are available at CES 2017 at the Sands Pavilion booth #51000.

Author Credentials: Ian C. Langtree is a writer, editor, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, which he established in 2004 as one of the longest-running independent resources for disability news and information. Over more than two decades, he has written and edited thousands of articles on disability rights, health, accessibility, and assistive technology. Drawing on a global perspective shaped by extensive travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed advocate of the Social Model of Disability, the framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that focuses on removing societal barriers rather than on individual impairments. His writing is grounded in that framework and in a lasting commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.