‘Be My Eyes’ App Lets Volunteers Assist the Sight-Impaired via iPhone
The Danish developer Robocat, which I’ve previously covered for its Thermodo thermometer dongle, has fully launched a new app that could be of great use to visually-impaired people.
Robocat built the open-source Be My Eyes iOS app for a non-profit startup of the same name. It’s quite a simple concept: visually-impaired people use the camera on their mobile device to shoot live video of whatever it is they need distinguishing or reading, and a sighted volunteer on the other end tells them what they need to know.
“We have launched this locally in Denmark for few months now. We have about 700 helpers. Apple is planning to feature the app in the App Store which will help to promote it and get more helpers,” Robocat founder and lead developer Willi Wu told me. “We are not only looking for helpers, but also blind people so they can get the help when they need it. So we are trying to get the word of mouth out to people who know blind people that could be useful for them.”
Right now the idea is to get traction on iOS before looking at other platforms, Wu said, pointing out that this is a non-profit venture. He added that the app’s points system and feedback makes it possible to rate the helpers.
As I say, it’s a straightforward concept that could be very useful, as long as that volunteer base grows sufficiently and becomes diverse enough to handle visually-impaired users who speak different languages, for instance. Other interesting apps in this space include KNFB Reader, which provides an audio read-out of printed text captured through the camera, and others that you can find listed here.
Here’s a video of how Be My Eyes works:
Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
More From Gigaom
