Sunday Edition 20241103 Presents: Is Haptic Tech about to bridge the Gap of Sensory impressions and non verbal communication for the BVI community & Jenine Stanley
This week Anthony welcomes friend to the show Jenine Stanley of AIRA to share with us some news about services for our Deaf and Hard of Hearing Brothers, Sisters and non-binary siblings as well as a host of other great announcements. We will also pick Jenine’s brain about the best tips she has for maximizing wearables and AIRA.
Then in our second hour Anthony will explore the possibilities of engaging and reading conversational visual cues using haptic tech. Jack Walters and Dr. Bryan Duarte of Hap Chic will walk us thru this revolutionary new wearable. The HET is a wearable assistive technology that provides people who are blind or low vision with real-time access to non-verbal communication cues (NVC) during social interactions. The HET device breaks down barriers to effective and engaging conversations by raising awareness of non-verbal communication cues in real-time. The technology leverages computer vision/ AI to detect and recognize the expressions, gestures, and body language received from an embedded camera on a pair of glasses before mapping the NVC to a dynamic haptic pattern applied to the forearm of the user on a wearable sleeve that is an inch bigger than a watch. With the HET you can tell if someone is smiling, going for a hand shake or waving at you in real time.
Jack Walters is the CEO and Co-founder of HapChic. As a student-athlete at the Colorado School of Mines, where he plays collegiate football, Jack has already earned a degree in mechanical engineering and is currently pursuing a master's in engineering and technology management. He is passionate about developing human-centric, equitable assistive technologies that benefit people from all backgrounds. With extensive experience in user studies and market research, Jack ensures that the technologies he develops are designed to truly meet the needs of the people they serve.
Dr. Bryan Duarte became blind at the age of 18 as the result of a motorcycle accident, and went on to received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Arizona State University focusing on dynamic Haptic interactions, sensory substitution, wearable technology, and assistive technology. He has dedicated the last decade of his life to developing wearable assistive technology that provides end users with an increased awareness of their environment and during social interactions. It is his aim to deliver high quality assistive technology to individuals that can provide access to the world around them in an intuitive, non-intrusive, and near real-time manner.
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