AI backpack concept gives audio alerts to blind pedestrians

When Jagadish Mahendran heard about his friend's daily challenges navigating as a blind person, he immediately thought of his artificial intelligence work. "For years I had been teaching robots to see things," he said. Mahendran, a computer vision researcher at the University of Georgia's Institute for Artificial Intelligence, found it ironic that he had helped develop machines -- including a shopping robot that could "see" stocked shelves and a kitchen robot -- but nothing for people with low or no vision. After exploring existing tech for blind and low vision people like camera-enabled canes or GPS-connected smartphone apps, he came up with a backpack-based AI design that uses cameras to provide instantaneous alerts. Delays can be dangerous when, for example, a car quickly crosses an intersection.