Abstract:
There is a great deal of research under way to recover or support failing sight. Some approaches, such as gene therapy and implanted prosthetic devices offer hope, but are limited in the number of people they can help and are in some sense still a long way off. The field of computer vision has expanded in the last decade and can now perform a range of real-time image detection and enhancement techniques, some of which can be employed to improve the functional sight of legally blind individuals. Over the past three years, researchers at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences have developed prototype wearable visual aids that provide a simplified and easy to see view of the nearby world, primarily to improve navigation and obstacle avoidance. In this talk Stephen will discuss much of the background and development that has lead to a pair of smart glasses for the visually impaired. He will also outline some of the areas in which computer vision can enhance sight for people in the near future.

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Dr Stephen Hicks is a Research Fellow in Visual Prostheitic at the NDCN. He leads a research effort to develop low-cost computerised visual enhancement techniques for registered blind individuals. He is the recipient of the 2013 Royal Society's Brian Mercer Award for Innovation and the Gold Medal for Engineering at the SET for Britain prize in 2014. He is an enthusiastic researcher and public speaker with background in neuroscience, engineering and human and computer vision.