As if it were a GPS for people in indoor environments, Toyota aims to develop a platform for assisting blind people with Project Blaid, a wearable device focused on urban mobility inside buildings.
Among its outstanding features, the system can detect objects and posters, identify where the toilets, stairs or elevator and the emergency exits are.
Project Blaid allows blind users to better explore the interior spaces of airports, offices or shopping malls. At the same time, Toyota plans to that device in the future add a mapping system and identification of objects and faces and at the moment is in a prototype stage.
At first glance, the wearable device resembles a plastic collar that hangs from the neck of the user and can be used over everyday clothing. With the possibility of being paired with a smartphone via Bluetooth, Project Blaid has cameras and sensors that allow the system to interact with the environment independently and have different modes of notification by vibration or the emission of a sound.