The blind cane is the most important tool for every vision-impaired and blind person.However, it is incomplete. Harmful obstacles above the ground, like tree branches, side mirrors or traffic signs can not be detected.
We spoke with many people from the blind community. One of these conversations was with Barbara and Gabrielle, who told us about collisions and accidents caused by obstacles they could not detect with their blind cane.
Barbara: “In some cases, I am not able to detect obstacles with my cane. For example, obstacles like branches, which aresticking out from trees. Occasionally, I also run into side mirrors from parked trucks.”
Gabrielle: “I am not able to protect my upper body from dangers. Once, as I passed a thorny hedge. On side of my face got completely scratched.”
Alone in Europe, 2.65 Million people are blind. 23% of them experienced injuries through undetectable obstacles and collisions.
We are BATCAM and we want to face this issue with our solution: Easy-to-use and stylish glasses, warning the user via soft vibrations about exactly these dangers.
Our Technology:
Our technology consists of a pair of fashionable glasses with two cameras and tiny vibration motors on each side. That’s all it takes to tell the user exactly where hazards are in their way. Equipped with stereo cameras, the BATCAM creates a high resolution depth map. This allows the BATCAM to detect any obstacle in front of the user and warns them to avoid collisions.
Easy-to-use: Just put on the glasses, turn them on and you’re good to go!
Obstacle avoidance: Slight vibrations indicate where an obstacle is – and how to avoid it.
Stylish: Don’t worry, we keep the design stylish. You won’t look like a cyborg when navigating safely!
Developed with the blind: We are constantly striving to improve our technology with feedback from the blind community.
Our Team:
We are a young team of engineers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology trying to make a positive impact in the world. Our sixth team member is the blind community from Karlsruhe. Together with their support, we are creating a product to meet exactly what is needed. For a more inclusive and accessible world.
Robin Eistetter: Our specialist for PCB-Design and embedded software.
Hieu Philip Hoang: Our full-stack developing wizard.
Michael Meyling: Our Computer-vision guru.
Jeanne Koch: Our Marketing and Public relations expert.
Antonius luy: Our professional for mechanical engineering.
Latest news:
ASAP BW Startup Challenge 2023: February 15, 2023: Our work and effort have paid off. We are honored to have been announced not only the Overall-Winner, but also the Audience Darling of the ASAP BW – Startup Challenge 2023! YouTube and can be viewed here.
Guest Talk at ARRTI Academy: January 11, 2023: It was an honor for us to be invited to the ARRTI Academy evening. We were allowed to present our vision in front of very curious professors, philosophers and other great innovators. Their delighted feedback and interest showed us that we are on the right track! Afterwards, we were able to participate in an interesting philosophical discussion, which was a very special pleasure for us.
Welcome, Antonius: August 28, 2022: We are growing! Welcome to our new teammate Antonius Luy! With Antonius, we have an expert in the field of mechanical engineering. This ensures that we can develop the lightest and most fashionable-looking glasses. Since we design and manufacture our glasses entirely in-house, this expertise is essential for developing the best possible eyewear.
Student Innovation Lab 2022 Final Pitch: July 19, 2022: The day we all have awaited for so long has finally come. The “Student Innovation Lab” has brought us together as a team, now we are finally there to present our last months work to our professors, supervisors, company representatives, fellow students and others. We are so excited to announce to have also won the “Student Innovation Lab 21/22 Best product” award as well as the “Darling of the public” award! Watch our pitch and the whole event here.
Test event:
July 10, 2022: Our first prototype is working and now we are excited to welcome Gabrielle, Barbara and Kerstin within our Lab spaces to test out the functionality within a self-assembled parcour. As expected, there is still a lot of technical work to be done from our first prototype to a final product. But the basic functionalities work: our three test subjects were able to reliably detect obstacles such as branches or cushions at an early stage and thus safely circumvent them. The feedback from the blind was also very important to us: everyone of them highlighted the importance of such a device and motivated us even more to further develop the BATCAM. A big thank you to Barbara, Gabrielle and Kerstin, who helped us in their spare time and of course for their important and valuable feedback!
KIT Sustainable Innovation Challenge 2022: July 06, 2022: We are very happy and honored to have won this year’s “KIT Sustainable Innovation Challenge 2022”! Winning the challenge motivates us in further pushing the boundaries of our project. Thanks to all organizers of ARRTI to create this impactful challenge! Check out the official web presence of the challenge here: https://www.arrti.kit.edu/717.php
BATCAM – Bat vision but good orientation!
Want to learn more? Feel free to contact us! info@batcam-glasses.de