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Indian Engineers Modify Kinect To Help the Blind Walk With Confidence

Posted by Soulskill on from the paging-geordi-laforge dept.

New submitter albinobee writes "The Kinect for Xbox 360 isn't only about gaming; it can also be used to help compensate for impaired vision, as a team of Indian engineers is working to prove. A device called viSparsh, still in its nascent stage, is a motion sensing belt that can help alert the blind to obstacles that lie in their path."

3 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Seems rediculous but... by hellkyng · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The more I hear about Kinect the more it makes it seem like one of the more revolutionary products that Microsoft has ever come out with...

    1. Re:Seems rediculous but... by timeOday · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't find that ridiculous. What's ridiculous is that some people thought it was comparable to the wiimote. Kinect won't displace gamepads, but cheap depth-field sensing is too useful to go away.

    2. Re:Seems rediculous but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What has really made it so revolutionary is Microsoft's open nature about it.

      Lol, Except for the bit where they stated they were never going to release a driver, that using it with a PC voided the warranty, and that use for any other purpose was illegal, and threatened anyone who started making a driver.

      Fortunately, one of the guys they hired to develop(johnny lee) offered 3k of his own money through a front for the first person to release open drivers for it.