From TED2011: Dennis Hong: Making a car for blind drivers

From the international TED2011 event: Using robotics, laser rangefinders, GPS and smart feedback tools, Dennis Hong is building a car for drivers who are blind. It's not a "self-driving" car, he's careful to note, but a car in which a non-sighted driver can determine speed, proximity and route -- and drive independently.

Hong, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech spoke about the Blind Driver Challenge project and its Daytona Rolex24 debut at the TED2011 event, held in early March in Long Beach, Calif. Among his fellow speakers: Bill Gates, Bill Ford and Roger Ebert. Watch the video.

Image of Dennis Hong on the TED stage is courtesy of TED2011.

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.

Blind, and want to ride in the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle?

The Blind Driver Challenge reached an important milestone on January 29, 2011, when the first public demonstration of a blind person independently operating an automobile using non-visual interfaces was successfully held at the Daytona International Speedway.

This achievement comes from the commitment and dedication of National Federation of the Blind members across the country. Whether it is the NFB's Blind Driver Challenge, the education programs, or any of the dozens of programs and services provided by NFB at the local or national level, it always begins with gathering the resources required to build our dreams for the future.

The NFB Imagination Fund is a primary source for the financial resources needed to build new programs. Those who help to collect those resources have the satisfaction of contributing to our future success. At our National Convention in Orlando, Fla., those who help raise considerable resources for the NFB Imagination Fund also will get to have their own Blind Driver Experience.

What is the Blind Driver Experience?

* An incredible opportunity for you and up to three of your friends to ride in the Blind Driver Challenge car -- the same car that was driven on the famed Daytona International Speedway -- while it is driven by a skilled blind driver

* An exclusive occasion to witness, up close, the non-visual access technology that makes it possible for a blind person to drive while experiencing a ride in the second-generation Blind Driver Challenge vehicle

* A unique chance to dialogue with a trained blind driver about the technology, the experience of testing the technology, and future interfaces for blind driving.

Thirty of this year’s Imaginators will have the honor of participating in the Blind Driver Experience during the convention. The top 10 Imaginators in overall dollars raised will automatically be selected to participate. The remaining twenty spots will be drawn at random from the pool of individuals who raised at least $1,000 and who plan to be in attendance at the convention.

In order to be eligible to participate in the Blind Driver Experience you must:

* Register for the Race for Independence (www.raceforindependence.org, or call (410) 659-9314 ext. 2371)

* Raise at least $1,000 or more, no later than June 15, 2011

* Register for the 2011 National Convention

* If selected, be available at the appointed time during the convention (participating individuals will be assigned a ride time on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 5)

Photo 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

From 'Fast Company': Welcome to the TED Revival: Blind People Drive, Paralyzed People Walk

From 4 March 2011: Yesterday morning at TED resembled an old-time faith-healing session--except instead of the Bible, the force was technology.

First Dennis Hong presented the results of his robotics lab RoMeLa's collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind. They equipped a car with an accelerometer, GPS, two cameras, and laser rangefinders, and then created a set of novel nonvisual interfaces--vibrating gloves and seat mats, and a brand-new screen called the AirPix that looks like a tiny air hockey table. It uses puffs of air like pixels to create an "image" of obstacles in the road ahead... Read More.

Dennis Hong at Daytona International Speedway, 29 January 2011. Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

Blind Driver Challenge appears on 'MotorWeek'

Weeks before the National Federation of the Blind’s Blind Driver Challenge vehicle took the course at Daytona International Speedway, MotorWeek’s Yolanda Vazquez was following the story in Virginia – at Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg home – and then in Florida – for the big public debut. Here, from an episode of “MotorWeek” is her report, titled "Blind Man Driving." Featured are Virginia Tech’s Dennis Hong, Paul D’Angio and Ryan Colby, with TORC Technologies’ Jesse Hurdus, and the National Federation of the Blind’s Marc Maurer, Kevan Worley and Mark Riccobono, among others.

Image: Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of Blind, enjoys a quiet moment surrounded by his supporters at a press conference dedicated to the Blind Driver Challenge. Mr. Maurer is featured in this Motorweek segment. photo by Steven D. A. Mackay.