The goal of our laboratory is to develop and test assistive technology for blind and visually impaired persons that is enabled by computer vision and other sensor technologies.
Principal Investigator:
James Coughlan
BLaDE (Barcode Localization and Decoding Engine) is an Android smartphone app designed to enable a blind or visually impaired user find and read product barcodes. The primary innovation of BLaDE, relative to most commercially available smartphone apps for reading barcodes, is that it provides real-time audio feedback to help visually impaired users find a barcode, which is a prerequisite to being able to read it.
Link to BLaDE software download: http://legacy.ski.org/Rehab/Coughlan_lab/BLaDE/
Click here for YouTube video demo of BLaDE in action.
Publications
Journal Article
Other Publications
Labs
Centers
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center
The Center’s research goal is to develop and apply new scientific knowledge and practical, cost-effective devices to better understand and address the real-world problems of blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind consumers. The RERC has many ongoing R&D projects and collaborative
News
Dr. Coughlan’s Bar Code Reader, BLaDE, Featured in Scientific American
Work by Drs. James Coughlan and Ender Tekin on bar code readers as an accessibility tool is discussed in Scientific American. The work with using these tools is specifically focused for people who are blind or who have visual impairments.
Get Involved
If you are interested in vision science or want to learn more about low vision and blindness, there are many opportunities to get involved at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute.
Coughlan LabThe goal of our laboratory is to develop and test assistive technology for blind and visually impaired persons that is enabled by computer vision and other sensor technologies.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research CenterThe Center's research goal is to develop and apply new scientific knowledge and practical, cost-effective devices to better understand and address the real-world problems of blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind...