智能手杖将成为真正的眼睛
Smart Cane Could Help Blind ID Faces
智能手杖将成为真正的眼睛
High-tech sticks could help visually impaired people spot obstacles and even identify acquaintances as they approach. Larry Greenemeier reports
高科技手杖可以帮助盲人发现障碍，甚至帮助他们认出接近的熟人。
撰文/播音 拉里·格林迈耶（Larry Greenemeier）
翻译 李轩
Foldable white canes help the visually impaired navigate their surroundings. But the guide stick’s tactile nature offers only so much information. The cane’s user must manually find and avoid obstructions. But new high-tech canes are on the horizon.
折叠白色手杖虽可以为盲人导航，但是手杖只能给予使用者触觉信息，使用者需要自己找到并避开障碍。不过，一项新型高科技手杖打破了这个局面，为盲人带来的新希望。
Last year researchers in India tried to fill in some of the missing info with their experimental SmartCane. The device uses an attached ultrasonic transmitter and a sensor that vibrates the cane to warn its users when an obstacle is within three meters.
去年，印度的研究人员试图通过他们研发的一款实验智能手杖，为使用者找回一些丢失的视觉信息。这个设备配备有一个超声波发射器与一个可以使手杖振动的传感器，会在障碍进入3米范围时发出警告。
Students at the U.K.’s Birmingham City University are developing a cane that can even identify acquaintances as they approach. Called the ‘XploR’ mobility cane, it includes an embedded digital camera that analyzes the faces of people walking by and compares their images against a database stored on a memory card in the cane’s handle.
而伯明翰城市大学的学生甚至发明了一种可以帮助盲人认出熟人的手杖。这款手杖名为XploR，它内部嵌入了一个摄像头，可以分析路过人的面部特征，然后与手杖手柄内部的存储卡内的数据库进行比对。
If there’s a facial recognition match, the cane alerts the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth. The phone then identifies the approaching person to the user via its speaker or earbuds. The students are building a prototype they’ll test later this year.
如果匹配成功，手杖会通过蓝牙通知使用者的智能手机，然后手机再通过扬声器或耳机告知使用者。这些学生将会在年内制作出原型产品并加以测试。
The hurdles are significant: facial recognition is a tough problem, especially outdoors. But if the XploR works, it could actually give the visually impaired a leg up on everyone else—especially those of us who never remember people’s names.
这个跨越具有重要意义：面部识别是一个棘手的问题，尤其在室外。如果XploR手杖可行，甚至它有可能会使盲人胜过健全的人，尤其我们当中连他人名字都记不得的人。
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京ICP备11000850号-1
京公网安备11010502039775号 信息网络传播视听节目许可证0111611号
国家科技基础条件平台