scottpete wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:46 pm
Hi, all. Sorry for nosing in on this conversation. I started on pages 1 and 2 then skipped to the end and have a lot of catching up to do. I am very excited to read what has been going on over the course of time. Here is my background:
I am an ophthalmologist in the US who treats retinal diseases and have a significant proportion of my patient base with visual impairment.
Discussing technology solutions for low vision was often frustrating due to the high cost of, in my opinion, primitive CC TV-type devices being >$1000-$2500 US. For elderly patients with fixed incomes this is a non-starter. Researching online has led me here and I have now a few pi3 with camera modules to begin prototyping, but progress has been slow. I have also just started to learn coding (I am admittedly a dilettante and novice). My goal is to create devices with a price point of $50-100. much in line with what is going on here. As a newbie my abilities are severely limited, but growing. I am following this thread to try to keep up with this very robust discussion for the benefit of my patients and friends. Thank you all for your expertise and work - hopefully I can be a contributing member to the discussion in the future as my experience allows. Thanks!
Scott
Hello, Scott, and hopefully a good New Year.
There are many facets to The vOICe, as well as a great diversity of potential users.
You must come across traumatically blind , gradually blind, all sorts of people. Some will be passive, others really motivated.
If you dig into The vOICe download and, with a laptop, try out all of the drop down menu options you will get an idea of its potential.
The Raspberry-Pi adds the dimensions of screen reading.... in fact whatever a cellphone might offer could be made available.
You should scrutinise the ability of a webcam to maintain focus down to inches. Inspect and compare textures and colours of fabrics,
check the colour of fruit and stuff in glass jars, all sorts of domestic tricks.
This is awkward with spectacle mounted cameras to say the least.
However, the Pi has both USB (normally connected to head cam) and its own ribbon camera interface
The latter can be adapted with a TINDIE product to HDMI (Misuse of HDMI

) adaptor kit , giving a quite robust realisation of a finger probe camera for really close sensing , finding things under furniture, and so on. I used a cigar tube and it worked.
So, with camera source switchable and some anti-crash medicine a Pi user could take advantage of both existential and precision perception. johnf.