Bloomberg TV News reports on Blind Driver Challenge

Bloomberg TV's Sheila Dharmarajan reports on the Blind Driver Challenge, a vehicle prototype that allows blind people to drive. The automobile's robotics technology, created by Dennis Hong, a professor at Virginia Tech, is designed with various sensors that signal the visually impaired to command the vehicle. Mark Riccobono, executive director of the National Federation of the Blind, also talks about the importance of equality and "taking control of the car if I need to." Video courtesy of Bloomberg News.

Also check out Bloomberg's video report on Dennis Hong's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory.

Photo of Mark Riccobono and Dennis Hong by Steven Mackay.

Take the Blind Driver Challenge at festival, by 'Daily Times'

KIPTOPEKE -- Visitors to the 2011 Harvest Festival are invited to take the Blind Driver Challenge at the Eastern Shore Center for Independent Living tent.

Software developed at Virginia Tech to enable blind people to drive will be on display in a simulated driving module.

The Blind Driver Challenge evolved as a result of blind people who felt they had established independence in various arenas of their lives but did not have the luxury nor the privilege to drive, especially after having conquered so many obstacles that were deemed impossible for the blind.

The National Federation of the Blind, which seeks to improve the lives of blind people by advocacy and the pursuit of advancing technology, partnered with Virginia Tech to develop software and interfacing that would enable a blind person to operate a motor vehicle.

Read more...

ABC News visits Youth Slam camp, takes BDC vehicles for a demo drive

The National Federation of the Blind hosted its STEM-inspired Youth Slam camp last week in Baltimore. The camp's mission, according to a NFB website: "Engage and inspire the next generation of blind youth to consider careers falsely believed to be impossible for the blind and bring a unified voice to the next generation of blind professionals."

ABC News stopped by the morning of July 22 for a demo of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicles. Later, students at the camp had the chance to ride in the cars, driven by the NFB's Mark Riccobono and Anil Lewis.

In the image above, Virginia Tech Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) Director Dennis Hong and ABC News' Juju Chang wave their hellos from one of the BDC vehicles. Chang, wearing sleeper shades, took the wheel of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle as part of a show focusing on Hong's work that will air in September.

For more photos, visit our Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/pzJjee

All photos by Steven D. A. Mackay.

CNN presents TED Talk reports: 'Why we made a car for blind drivers'

Text by Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech.

Blacksburg, Virginia (CNN) -- In our modern society, driving is really a necessity. It is a means of getting you to your destination wherever, whenever. Driving is also fun. Some people even consider it an expression of power. Most importantly, driving is really about freedom, about independence.

Sighted people, myself included, do it every day and take it for granted. Unfortunately, because of physical challenges, not everyone has the privilege to drive. My team of researchers wants to find a way to give the blind the ability to drive.

When we first announced that we were going to take up this challenge, many thought we were crazy, and most of the critics doubted that it could be done. Even some of my colleagues challenged us on the idea of developing a vehicle for the blind.

Read more...

Image courtesy TED Talk

NFB congratulates Blind Driver Experience participants

[Administrator's note: From a press release by the National Federation of the Blind.]

Baltimore, Maryland (June 24, 2011): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind people, today congratulated the thirty people who won the honor of participating in the Blind Driver Experience. On Tuesday, July 5, from 1–6:00 p.m., as part of the NFB National Convention in Orlando, the winners will get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride in the Blind Driver Challenge™ car equipped with nonvisual technology (the same car that was driven on the famed Daytona International Speedway on January 29, 2011).

The participants of the Blind Driver Experience will be driven in the official Blind Driver Challenge vehicle by Mark Riccobono, executive director of the NFB Jernigan Institute, and the first blind person to drive a street vehicle in public.

The Blind Driver Experience is an initiative of the NFB Imagination Fund, which supports the education, technology, and research projects of the NFB Jernigan Institute, as well as programs conducted by the fifty-two affiliates and over seven-hundred local chapters of the Federation.

Read more...

Photo by John McCormick, Virginia Tech

From 'Popular Science': How a Blind Man Drove the Daytona Speedway

By Juliet Lapidos

Mark Anthony Riccobono, who is blind, drove a modified Ford Escape hybrid on the Daytona International Speedway, turning to avoid obstacles. He navigated using feedback from the car’s laser sensors and cameras, installed by a team of researchers from Virginia Tech and the company Torc Technologies. PopSci spoke by phone to Riccobono, the executive director of the National Federation of the Blind’s Jernigan Institute, which researches new technology for the blind.

How did you know when to turn?

The car’s laser range-finding sensors sent data to a computer, which in turn sent me directional information. I was wearing gloves with motors in the knuckle....

Read more...

Image of Mark Riccobono by Steven D. A. Mackay.

Blind Driver Challenge: Technology that Puts Blind People in the Driver's Seat

From "Access World"

By Deborah Kendrick

Five years ago, when I first heard Dr. Betsy Zaborowski, then executive director for the Jernigan Institute at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), speak about a car that blind people could drive, I remember thinking, Yes, that could be possible. At the time, I knew about cars with motion detectors that could sense the proximity of another vehicle, and I'd read about cars that were programmed to stay in the proper lane. I, like many others, assumed Dr. Zaborowski was talking about a programmable car—a car that could automatically take a blind person to a programmed address or set of coordinates, similar to the way GPS works.

That's also what Dr. Dennis Hong, professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, first thought when he was approached by the NFB to collaborate on a project that would enable a blind person to drive a car. After all, students at Virginia Tech had already developed an autonomous vehicle that could drive without a human. Dr. Hong soon learned, however, that an autonomous car was not at all what those at the NFB imagined. They wanted a car that would literally put a blind person in the driver's seat, detecting obstacles, determining turns, and making decisions.

"What can't you do?" is a question that most blind people hear from sighted friends and colleagues at one time or another. For me, the answer used to come easily: "I can't read print and I can't drive."

Read more...

Image of Mark Riccobono at the wheel of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle by Steven D. A. Mackay.

Discovery Canada's 'Daily Planet' features Riccobono, Hong

Two days after making history as the first person to drive the Daytona International Speedway unassisted, Mark Riccobono talked with Jay Ingram of Discovery Canada’s “Daily Planet” television program. Dennis Hong of the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech also joined the talk, discussing the five years in the making high-tech efforts behind the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle. This talk -- featuring footage of the Jan. 29 debut -- was recorded Jan. 31 at the Daytona International Speedway’s winners circle.

Mark Riccobono talks with media at Daytona's celebrated winners circle. Image by Steven D. A. Mackay

Blind Driver Challenge appears on NBC's "Today Show"

On a deeply frigid February 23, 2011, Jenna Wolfe of the Sunday edition of "Today Show" visited the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in Blacksburg, Va. Her mission: Learn about and then test-drive the second-generation Blind Driver Challenge vehicle known as “ANDREA” (Automobile for Non-visual Driving Research, Education and Advancement). How did she do? Watch this clip to see. Featured in the spot are Blind Driver Challenge partners National Federation of the Blind’s Mark Riccobono, Virginia Tech’s Dennis Hong and Paul D’Angio, and TORC Technologies’ Jesse Hurdus, among others. Note: A brief commercial may play before the feature.

Image: Mark Riccobono, executive director of the National Federation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute, and Dennis Hong, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia, in December 2010 at Danville, Va. Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay.

Virginia Tech students help bring Blind Driver Challenge to Daytona

A team of graduate and undergraduate students from the Virginia Tech College of Engineering helped make history Jan. 29, 2011, at Daytona International Speedway.

As part of the ongoing Blind Driver Challenge, a blind man drove a 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV on 1.5 miles of the famed course during the three-day Rolex 24 race extravaganza. At a top speed of 27 mph, he steered through a set of obstacles that included barrels and cardboard boxes randomly thrown from the back of a van. He then passed the moving van. Assisting the driver was high-tech hardware developed by Hokies, past and present.

The driver – Mark Riccobono, an executive with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) -- did perfectly. His trek complete, he parked the vehicle at track’s end and within minutes embraced and kissed his wife. The trek made international news: CNN, “Wired,” Fox News, and more.

The 10-minute trip caps years of research engineering work by teams of College of Engineering students, led by Dennis Hong, director of Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory and associate professor of mechanical engineering.

“As Mark arrived safely at the finish line, hugging his wife with tears in his eyes, I couldn’t help but also cry,” Hong said. “I asked Mark if he could give me a ride back to my hotel. He is blind, but I knew he could see the big smile on my face.”

History

Having the freedom to drive an automobile has long been a dream of blind people. It’s among the first things they are told they never can do. But in 2004, the National Federation of the Blind – a nonprofit advocacy group based in Baltimore – put forth the Blind Driver Challenge: Create non-visual interface technology that one day could allow a blind person to safely and reliably drive an automobile.

Virginia Tech is the only university and research institution to take up the call. Work began in earnest in 2006. Within three years, undergraduate engineering students built a prototype buggy that used laser range finders to scan the surrounding environment and relay information back to the driver via a variety of new non-visual interface technologies.

Riccobono was one of the first blind people to drive the red buggy in May 2009 on Virginia Tech’s campus. At the time, he said, “This is sort of our going to the moon project.” The buggy publicly debuted shortly thereafter at the NFB’s Youth Slam summer camp in College Park, Md., in July 2009. The debut made international news, but it was merely the beginning of the effort.

From there, work began on the second-generation of Blind Driver vehicles, highway-ready cars that could conceivably by used on the open road. The set goal was large: Debut the cars on one of the most famous pieces of asphalt in the United States, a landmark among racing fans. The Daytona International Speedway.

Technology

To meet the goal, Virginia Tech enlisted the help of TORC Technologies, a company founded by College of Engineering alumni and based at the university’s Corporate Research Center. TORC had an essential ingredient: ByWire XGV technology that can be integrated to a vehicle, in this case two Ford Escape Hybrids. The tech provides reliable and safe electronic control of the vehicle and the capability to be stopped remotely, among other modifications.

Engineering students designed the non-visual interface devices used by blind drivers to steer and operate the vehicle. The hardware includes wire-enhanced vibrating gloves called DriveGrips and a vibrating seat cushion called SpeedStrip. Both interfaces vibrate certain cues that indicate directions to accelerate or halt, turn right or left. The vehicles can “see” obstacles and the road ahead, via strategically placed laser range finders and cameras.

“Through the help of technology and ingenuity, the possibilities for the blind are limitless,” said Matt Dowden, a College of Engineering graduate research assistant from Falls Church, Va., who originated DriveGrip while an undergraduate. “This project, from the original concept to the dune buggy to the highway-ready SUVs has always been and always will be about breaking barriers.”

With the technology in place to allow a driver to steer the SUV through a closed course, practice began. For months, on campus, at the nearby Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s Smart Road, and then the rural Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Va., Riccobono and other blind drivers tested the vehicles as students and TORC employees perfected the technology.

Daytona debut

Emotions and excitement ran high even before the Blind Driver vehicles debuted at the racetrack.

On the eve of Rolex 24, Riccobono for the first time was able to drive his family around a speedway-owned parking lot in one of the two Blind Driver Challenge SUVs. With his wife – who is also blind – in the passenger seat, and his two children strapped in the back, Riccobono drove the SUV, dodging traffic islands and other obstacles.

“This really hit home for me as my goal is to use engineering to help people overcome life’s toughest challenges,” said Paul D’Angio, a mechanical engineering doctoral student from Basking Ridge, N.J. Added Hong: “To witness and truly feel our hard work directly touching others hearts, giving people hope and inspiring others, was an experience that I will never forget.”

Riccobono himself said his driving the Daytona track was a historic moment for blind people all over -- there are an estimated 1.3 million legally blind people just in the United States – but that the short, quiet drive he took with his family was a personal life highlight.

The next day, Jan. 29, Riccobono drove the track. Before hundreds of fellow federation members and thousands of race fans parked and camped within the track, Riccobono turned the ignition at the track’s iconic starting line. All engines go. A group of photographers and cameramen filmed his departure and then raced themselves to the finish line to capture the arrival.

He took an 18-degree bank, steered through white barrels, and navigated around those cardboard boxes thrown from the back of a van. A track announcer called out every move Riccobono made as he drove to demo’s end point. Riccobono exited the vehicle elated, emotional.

“People asked me what are you going to say, and I had some things in mind of what I was going to say,” Riccobono said afterward. “But for me the moment spoke for itself, there were no words. Even words that I conjure up ahead of time that would fit the moment.”

D’Angio was in the van, dropping the boxes the SUV dodged. “We made a large amount of practice runs, so during the actual track run we were focused on performing our individual tasks,” he said. “Once the vehicle came to a stop however, screams of celebration echoed throughout the lead vehicle ... after eight months of work we had finally done it!”

Added Ryan Colby, a master’s student in mechanical engineering from Rochester, N.Y.: “Experiencing the actual demo from up close, it seemed so natural to see a blind man driving since our team had already seen this happening firsthand in our practice sessions.”

Back in Blacksburg, at least one Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge team member listened via Internet to the live broadcasted demo. “I could feel the excitement and palpable anticipation as Mark was handed the keys. I thought, ‘He’s really going to do this – it is reality. All the hard work is about to pay off,’” said Chelsea Cook, a freshman majoring in physics from Newport News, Va., who is blind.

“What came next seemed analogous to a space shuttle launch: Systems check, preparing the non-visual interfaces, checking their functionality, giving a thumbs-up to the other crews. I always get the sense that driving the [Blind Driver] vehicle is like being a test pilot: exhilarating, slight risk involved, and the old mantra: Pushing the edge of the envelope,” said Cook, a self-proclaimed “NASA geek.”

Future

What is next for the Blind Driver Challenge vehicles? Advocates at federation know well the barriers that loom before them are large, not just the technology-based hurdles, but the societal ones as well. Having blind drivers sharing the road is several years off. The technology likely will be ready before insurers, highway regulators, and everyday motorists are open to the concept.

But hopes remain undeterred. “This is just one piece,” said Riccobono. “We have a lot more work to do to continue this effort. … This is not just a dream, but a path to something that is going to be real.” Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said before the Daytona demo, “This isn’t the end, this is just the beginning.”

Hong and his research team plan to meet the end-goal of the Blind Driver Challenge: Develop a car that can be driven by a blind person independently. “The SpeedStrip and DriveGrip interfaces were simple ‘instructional cue’ devices that we are moving away from, and we are now pursuing more sophisticated ‘informational cue’ devices for the driving interfaces,” Hong said.

“What we have shown at Daytona is that the human brain is capable of surpassing our wildest imaginations when coupled with the right technology,” said Jesse Hurdus, a software engineer with TORC who earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech. “Partnering with Virginia Tech and RoMeLa to achieve this difficult challenge shows the power of combining industry expertise with student creativity.”

The devices used in the SUVs, as well as other technologies developed by students during the Blind Driver Challenge likely have other uses outside of driving – perhaps being adopted to home appliances, computers, and other everyday objects used by the blind. The laser range finders and technologies on the SUVs also could be adapted to all cars and trucks. Think how handy it would be to have a laser-based collision warning alarm on a dangerous, fog-covered mountain road.

“Humans do not adapt easily to what they think is impossible, unless, of course, you are brought up to embrace technology, as some of us in the blind community have,” said Cook, who has since driven one of the Blind Driver vehicles on a close-ended highway course. “The ability to control a vehicle independently is amazing, but I’m just as curious to see the spin-offs and applications in other fields until society is ready for us to hit the road.”

Editor’s Note: This is a full-text version of an article appearing at the Virginia Tech website. The original article includes additional photographs and video links about the Blind Driver Challenge. All images by Steven D. A. Mackay, Virginia Tech College of Engineering, and Suzanne Shaffer, National Federation of the Blind.

From the "Fremont (Nebraska) Tribune": FPS teacher watches blind man drive

Mary Robinson recently got the chance to watch something very few people thought was possible: Watch a blind person drive a vehicle.

Robinson, a teacher for Fremont Public Schools' Blind and Visually Impaired Program, watched Mark Anthony Riccobono drive a Ford Escape hybrid during the Rolex 24 in late January at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Riccobono's vehicle was equipped with non-visual technology, including a pad that gave him cues for when to stop, speed up and slow down, as well as gloves that indicated which direction to turn.

Riccobono also had to avoid obstacles, including boxes that were dropped from a van.

Robinson was amazed by... Read more

Image: As he exits the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle at Daytona International Speedway, Mark Riccobono is greeted by family, friends and cameramen. Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay.

From 'Wired': High-Tech Car Allows the Blind to Drive

A Ford Escape poking along at 25 mph isn’t usually the most exciting event on the track at the Daytona International Speedway. Consider that the driver is blind, however, and that slow-moving Ford is an example of how technology can grant autonomy.

Mark Riccobono, a blind executive at the National Federation of the Blind, handled the curves, avoided obstacles thrown in his path from a van ahead of him and then passed that van. He did it in a vehicle built by students using off-the-shelf technology.

“That was fun because nobody expected that we’d do that,” Riccobono said. “We kept exactly what we were going to do on the track, we held that close to the vest and even our members didn’t know that was going to happen.”

Although we’re a long way from the day ... Read more

At the Daytona International Speedway, Mark Riccobono prepares to drive the Blind Driver Challenge car known as BRIAN. Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

Virginia Tech video of a triumphant run

Watch the National Federation of the Blind's Mark Riccobono steer the course at the Daytona International Speedway in this brief video from January 29, 2011.

Riccobono, executive director of the NFB's Jernigan Institute, said he was "honored" to be the first person to taker the race course as part of the Blind Driver Challenge. More personal, though, Riccobono said was the chance to drive his family -- wife and two children -- around a nearby parking lot the day prior. The car's public debut came at the famed Rolex24 race.

Added Dennis Hong, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, "The Daytona demo we did is just the beginning. It was to let the world know about the challenge, and to inspire other scientists and researchers to join our efforts in developing technology for the blind."

Video edited by Virginia Tech's Josh Napier.

Photo: A triumphant and emotional Mark Riccobono talks to a cameraman (just out of frame), after his Daytona demo drive. Image by Steven D. A. Mackay

From Engadget: 'Hokies give (tactile) sight to the blind so they can drive...'

Daytona International Speedway is synonymous with speed, auto racing, and . . . blind people? Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), along with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), recently debuted its sight-optional and street-legal SUV at the famed racetrack. Dr. Dennis Hong and his students first let blind folks drive a dune buggy without the help of a sighted copilot in 2009 -- as a first step to achieving the goal of a street-legal SUV for the sightless crowd.

Read more

Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

From Inside Science News Service: 'Driving Blind At Daytona'

(ISNS) -- Last Saturday, a blind driver dodged cardboard boxes thrown in front of him while driving a modified Ford Hybrid Escape around the Daytona International Speedway.

He had only seconds to react to the obstacles.

"If we just put boxes on the track, people might think we planned the route," said Dennis Hong, whose robotics and mechanisms lab at Virginia Tech modified the cars.

Instead, Hong's team threw boxes from a van so they bounced around. “That shows everyone that their position is random, and that the drivers are really driving,” said Hong.

Read more...

Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

Success at Daytona

A bit more than two hours ago Mark Riccobono made history by taking the wheel of the Blind Driver Challenge car and running the course at Daytona International Speedway. Mark said the feeling was one of the most exhilarating of his life. The director of the National Federation of the Blind’s Jernigan Institute said he appreciated more the chance to drive his family – wife and two children – around a parking lot. Paul D’angio, a doctoral at Virginia Tech, said today’s work capped 8 months of hard work, through rain, heat, snow and darkness. More to come tonight….

Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

Taking the track ... today

The day before the race, the Blind Driver Challenge cars arrived at the garages of the Daytona International Motorspeedway. Earlier in the day, Mark Riccobono test drove the non-visual interface car in a nearby parking lot, with the buzz and roar of the racetrack in the background.

Later that night, at a hotel along Dayton’s world famous beach, the National Federation of the Blind hosted a rally to celebrate this great technological achievement. Among the speakers was NFB President Marc Maurer. His great words: “This is not the end … This is just the beginning!” Dennis Hong, Virginia Tech associate professor of mechanical engineering, also spoke. He celebrated the efforts of his undergraduate and graduate students at the College of Engineering. “We always deliver.”

And, now, two hours before the race, all are excited. At the racetrack, stands are filling up, the BDC cars are being prepped and Riccobono is ready to take the wheel. To listen to an audiocast of the race go here: http://nfbrolex24.serverroom.us:5144/index.html

And with that, we’re taking the track…

One day to until the big debut at Daytona...

The Blind Driver Challenge team practices tomorrow for the debut of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle just outside the Daytona International Speedway. Behind the wheel is Marc Riccobono, who will drive the car tomorrow on the track before thousands of race fans.

He is executive director of the National Federation of the Blind’s Jernigan Institute, which launched the idea of a vehicle that the blind one day could drive. Behind Mark is Laura Strickland, a Virginia Tech junior majoring in mechanical engineering and a member of the Blind Driver Challenge student team.

History of the Blind Driver Challenge

The Blind Driver Challenge was first formally issued at the opening of the National Federation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute in January 2004. However, Marc Maurer, president of the NFB, previously discussed years earlier the development of a highway-ready vehicle that can be driven by the blind. While people have speculated for decades about autonomous vehicles, the NFB Blind Driver Challenge presented a paradigm shift.

The NFB Jernigan Institute -- the only research and training center developed and directed by the blind themselves -- now provides the vehicle for technological innovation that will empower the blind to drive. At the 2004 opening of the Jernigan Institute, a mock-up of a vehicle drivable by the blind was on display. Note: Not a vehicle that drives the blind, but a vehicle with an innovative interface and feedback system that allows a blind person to make their own driving decisions. Independent.

Since the launch of the NFB Blind Driver Challenge in 2004, the NFB has been working to capture imaginations and create a perceptual shift from autonomous vehicles to vehicles drivable by the blind. The NFB has undertaken efforts to engage universities in the challenge.

As of fall 2009, Virginia Tech is the only institution to take on the NFB Blind Driver Challenge. Virginia Tech’s work during the 2008-09 school year and programming offered the first prototype Blind Driver vehicle at the 2009 NFB Youth Slam has created new energy around the initiative. The vehicle was a hit – garnering a front page story with “The Washington Post” and a spot on CBS’ “The Early Show.”

For a more detailed history of the Blind Driver Challenge, please read Mark Riccobono’s article, Driving Independence and Innovation Through Imagination, which appeared in the December 2009 issue of the Braille Monitor.

Text by National Federation of the Blind. Photo by Steven Mackay/Virginia Tech