The best use cases are sometimes so obvious. During Nvidia GTC 2024, Cornel Amariei, CEO of .Lumen walked through a headset for the visually impaired that will scale better than a guide dog using sensors and AI technologies that are used in cars.

"We have today over 300 million people who are visually impaired, and this number is increasing greatly. But if you check what solutions are out there for them, there are only two solutions for their mobility, and they're 1,000s of years old--a guide dog and the white cane," explained Amariei.

Amariei explained how .Lumen's headset includes spatial navigation AI to understand the pedestrian world the same way a self-driving car would. The headset also includes a non-visual feedback interface that uses haptics to guide the blind.

"Rather than pulling your hand as a guide note, we actually pull your head," he explained. "We tested with over 300 blind individuals, and I would argue it's actually more intuitive than a guide dog pulling your hand. It's all possible because of the latest in self-driving, robotics and artificial intelligence powered by Nvidia."

The technology behind the headset includes two RGB cameras, two depth cameras, infrared sensors, and an inertial measurement unit with the ability to use GPS in some use cases. The data is processed in the headset to run machine learning models and computer vision flows.

Amariei added that .Lumen is optimizing for battery life and other features. He said that the headset can be used with a white cane or guide dog as well as by itself. Approval from the Food and Drug Administration is expected next year, and the device will be available in the second half of 2024.

More from Nvidia GTC 2024:

Business Research Themes

Next-Generation Customer Experience

Roles

Chief Technology Officer

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#AI, @nvidia, #XR #AR #spatialcomputing