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.

In Daytona: A photo album

A team of Virginia Tech College of Engineering graduate and undergraduate students helped make history January 29, 2011, at the Daytona International Speedway. As part of the ongoing Blind Driver Challenge, a blind man drove a specially-outfitted 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV on 1.5 miles of the famed auto course. We've posted a photo album marking highlights of this unique occasion.

Image: National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute Executive Director and BDC driver Mark Riccobono takes on the famed Daytona track. Photo by Suzanne Shaffer, an art director at the National Federation of the Blind.

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

Virginia Tech video: Behind the Blind Driver Challenge

The second-generation Blind Driver Challenge vehicles are explained in this Virginia Tech University Relations video featuring Associate Professor Dennis Hong (pictured at right) of our mechanical engineering department. Video was at the Virginia International Raceway, 11 days before our successful January 29 run at Daytona International Speedway.

Photo 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.

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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