“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Technology has made some amazing things possible, but the true power comes from the synergy you get by combining different components. Zuby Onwuta is a researcher based in Austin, Texas, who has taken some separate products to create a system called Think&Zoom to help individuals with limited vision.
The first part is a NeuroSky EEG headset, which can measure brain activity. Onwuta pairs this with a Google Glass to provide a head-mounted camera and display, which are controlled by the Think&Zoom app. The EEG headset can detect when the user is focusing on a particular object, and the Google Glass camera zooms in on the object. This enlarged image is then display on the Google Glass display, making it possible for a user with limited vision to view the object. The key feature is that this is all done hands-free; the user can even blink to trigger a capture of the enlarged image.
This system can be applied to other EEG headsets and head-mounted displays. It also is easy to see how the features of both devices could be incorporated into a single product to help those with limited vision. This combination of features points the way to create powerful ways to help people with a variety of physical challenges through wearable Health Tech devices. We’ve just scratched the surface of the possible solutions that are now becoming practical.
