Francisco Castillo, Guillermo Fernández, Rodrigo Martínez, Álvaro Rojas and Aníbal Silva are students in their 4th year of Informatics at the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Chile. Together, they have developed GuideMe, a mobile application that helps the blind and people with reduced visibility.
Using audio recordings and sensors, the app guides users so that they can move around complicated or unfamiliar spaces and thus offer them greater autonomy. The objective of the project is to help the social group by focusing on problems with orientation. “We were motivated to use software developments to create a change in society and improve the quality of life of blind people,” explained Aníbal Silva, the project leader.
GuideMe does not require an internet connection, but rather uses the sensors incorporated in mobile phones to detect the user’s movements and thus estimate the distance they have travelled.
“The space is modeled with a graph which is drawn up via nodes of which a subset is formed of points of interest, which are the user’s ultimate destination. An interface is programmed to respond to voice commands, or large high contrast buttons can be used for people with reduced visibility,” said Silva.
The developers entered the App in Innovatón, a competition for problem solving ideas for people with disabilities organized by Teletón – a non-profit institution dedicated to the integral rehabilitation of children and young people with motor disabilities.
“Although our motivation is non-profit, we believe that GuideMe should be supported by different organizations, mainly by companies who wish to add value to their product as it improves accessibility and inclusion for blind people in new spaces. It is also essential that the government support initiatives like this.” Aníbal Silva added.
