This week I found a TED talk a man named Dennis Hong gave. He talks about the technology that was put together to create a car that can be driven safely by a blind person. Even though a couple years ago it seemed like a crazy idea, it has become possible.
I read the short description and had several questions. What type of technology is used to aid the drivers? How would a blind person know when to turn? How would they know to speed up or slowdown? And how would they be able to avoid obstacles? The description said that they used robotics, laser rangefinders, GPS and smart feedback tools. I knew he would probably explain more but I wanted to what a laser rangefinder was and how it worked. So I did some research before watching the video. It is just what it sounds like; a laser rangefinder determines the distance between two objects. It operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in a narrow beam towards the object and measuring the time taken by the pulse to be reflected off the target and returned to the sender. For this talk I was less interested in what the description said and more interested in what it didn’t say.
The technology used to create this car is incredible! I’d heard of blind people wanting to drive but never thinking it was possible. I really liked this talk because it was something that I’d never heard of and Dennis Hong answered all my questions. Did he leave you with any?
I learned that there are several small components of technology that come together to create something new. The drivers would know when to turn by using drive grips that give instructions on which way to steer and how much. They have a speed grip that instructs the driver when and how to adjust their speed and they avoid obstacles with laser rangefinders and AirPix.
I found it amazing that technology can do so much. I have a hard time driving without any disabilities, I’m terrible at parking and I never know what speed to go. Adding in the factor of losing one of your senses would make it that much harder. I also thought it was really cool that the National Federation of the Blind said that they didn’t want a car that could drive blind people around, but a car where a blind person can make active decisions and drive. Many blind people wrote back to him saying that he gave them hope. Technology is advancing and changing lives, and the fact that technology can create things more people can do instead of can’t makes me realized that we’re heading in the right direction.
