For people with visual impairment, the loss of sight seems to also take away an infinity of supposedly simple activities that require the functioning of our ability to see – such as run. For runner Thomas Panek, the diagnosis that he would go blind due to a genetic disorder could not mean the end of his athletic activities—and if at first he relied on guides and guide dogs to overcome the limits of his condition, now allied with the best technology, he was finally able, with the help of a specially developed app, to run freely, without needing anyone's help.
“The safest thing a blind person can do is stay still. I won't stay still,” he says in the incredible promotional video for the new feature, created in partnership with the Google. CEO of the NGO Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Panek is the author of guide dog training programs for runners and various other adaptations for the visually impaired in sports. In 2019 he became the first blind person to complete the Marathon of New York, with the help of three guide dogs, but his desire was to go further – and to be able to run alone again.
To do this, he turned to Google, which took on the project for Project Guideline – and developed the perfect app.
O app Guideline combines the front camera of a standard smartphone with artificial intelligence technology to guide the runner to stay on track – for this, the camera must follow a painted line on the ground, in the middle of the track, which serves as guidance for the subsequent calculation of the runner's position. Information is sent to the user through audio in a headphone, so that they can autonomously and independently position themselves correctly on the track. “Being able to be here is really exciting,” says Panek. “It is truly a feeling of freedom and independence, but also the sense that you are just like anyone else.”.
In the video, other visually impaired people use the technology to finally be able to walk—or run off—independently. Through the new development, Panek was able to become the first blind person to run 5 km without any person or animal as assistance. The video notes that Project Guideline is still a project in the early stages of its research. “As we continue our work, we hope to work with more organizations,” the caption says—but the future of the initiative truly seems as promising as it is revolutionary. When another user was asked to define what she felt while using the app, she offered the scale of the new development in one word: “liberating.”.
SOURCE:
Hypeness
