Rotary Club of Bangalore donated smart vision glasses to 32 visually challenged children at an event at Rotary House of Friendship, Lavelle Road. Rotary executed the project in collaboration with Ishya Foundation, Vision Aid India and Dirak.
The glasses, which cost a total of Rs 10 lakh, were given to children from the Sneha Deep Trust for the Disabled. These were the children in the 12-18 age group who are fully or partially blind.
The glasses, developed by SHG Technologies Pvt Ltd, have a device attached to its side which is enabled with flash, Lidar, bluetooth microphone and a small speaker. It can be linked with the user’s smartphone.
The device reads out printed or handwritten text aloud in English and common Indian languages. It can identify objects and describe them, which can guide the user when walking in public places. It also warns the user of obstacles in front of them. The device can also describe people’s faces and expressions, and identify faces that the user had previously saved on it.
The glasses benefit people who are blind by birth, those who have severe glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, vision loss due to stroke, and damage to optical nerves.
The children were also trained on using the glasses, at the event. “We will visit the school after a week to resolve any doubts the children have. And this will continue every three months,” said R Girish, immediate past president of Rotary Club and Trustee of Ishya Foundation. He added that the glasses would be donated to 68 more children on April 3.
Published 25 March 2023, 19:47 IST