Israeli device allows visually impaired people to read, recognize faces

Israeli company OrCam has developed an artificial intelligence device that gives autonomy to people who are blind, visually impaired, or have difficulty reading.

The pioneering technology in the form of a small portable device has since 2015 revolutionized the daily lives of tens of thousands of users around the world.

OrCam was founded by Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram in 2010. It was born as an extension of Mobileye, an Israeli company that develops anti-collision and vehicle driving assistance systems. 

"Basically, it's a humanist project that was born thanks to some of the Mobileye engineers who wanted to help those who can't see to read and work," explained Delphine Nabeth, OrCam's business development manager. 

"It all started with Amnon's aunt, who suffers from macular degeneration. As she gradually lost her sight, her nephew felt that a solution like Mobileye had to be found to help humanity They then interviewed visually impaired people to find out what they missed the most and they mostly answered reading, so the engineers focused on this aspect as a priority."

How does OrCam work?

OrCam devices are light and small in size, fit in one hand, and are very easy to use. 

Currently, two kinds of devices are available and widely marketed. The OrCam MyEye is for blind and visually impaired people: It's a small box that clips onto the glasses and scans the text or objects in front of it, then a voice dictates the content orally. While the OrCam Read works on the model of a stylus-reader which allows people with visual impairment, glaucoma, macular degeneration, or who suffer from dyslexia or illiteracy, to be able to read. The principle is simple: A user positions the pen in front of the text and presses the button, then a voice command reads the inscription.

A study conducted in 2019 on 13 students in nine schools in Australia also demonstrated all the advantages of OrCam in supporting students with neurodevelopmental disorders or learning difficulties in reading. OrCam Read allowed them to focus more on the meaning of the text than on the act of reading. 

“Reading is a challenge for many people, sometimes because of a physical problem – sometimes because of a learning disability. For people in these situations, the act of reading requires so much effort that it's getting hard to focus on the content," said Dr. Yonatan Wexler, OrCam's executive vice president of research and development. 

Quality support

"These devices offer advantages of choice that are not found anywhere else, such as the instantaneity or the quality of the diction, the synthetic voice is very clear and pleasant. You can also adjust the speed of the voice, if the person has misunderstood or made a mistake, they can take a photo again in a second, and the text is vocalized again. There is also a certain unparalleled flexibility of use," said Nabeth.

The Israeli start-up has produced its devices in around thirty languages ​​and sold them in around forty countries. The devices can also scan faces, or even credit cards, banknotes, and colors, which they record and transmit in real-time. OrCam Read is also the first device ever to integrate an intelligent camera capable of reading all printed or digital texts. "For faces and products, the person can save up to 150," Nabeth specified.

A revolution to conquer the int'l market

For now, OrCam's biggest market is in the United States and England where the products were first released. The company then turned to Germany because of the significant coverage by mutual insurance companies and a consequential market. Then France and Spain and more recently Ethiopia were added to a long list. 

“Saudi Arabia just made a big donation to Ethiopia but we didn’t have the device in Ethiopian so thanks to this opportunity we developed the software in one month in this language to have the devices ready to be transported," said Nabeth. 

In France every year, thousands of OrCam devices are sold.

A leader in the field of high technology

"When people live with a disability, they are on the lookout for this kind of novelty which solves many of the difficulties they have to face. We see this when we participate in disability fairs, a lot of people are interested in the phenomenon. Our particularity also lies in the fact that we have reached people who do not have the status of disabled persons. Someone who has glaucoma, for example, does not consider himself to be disabled, but medicine has no solution to bring him," said Nabeth. 

"Because it's a very advanced and high-performance technology, it's appealing even to older people who aren't used to handling this kind of device. And it's flattering for them to know that a technology has focused specifically on their needs," she continued.

But OrCam does not intend to stop there. In addition to improving its already existing devices with new functionalities, the company is currently developing an ultra-advanced hearing aid, intended for a very wide audience, as well as the OrCam Learn device, which already exists only in English and is dedicated to education. Equipped with text analysis and reading quality software, it is designed as a real educational tool. A very promising technological feat that should project OrCam into the big leagues.