Winner of 5 awards including the 2013 Royal Society Award for Innovation
Developing smart glasses for registered blind individuals
Recently seen on BBC TV
We are developing a set of 'smart' electronic glasses (‘smart specs’) to enhance sight for the visually impaired.
We work on the development and experimental validation of a set of 'smart' electronic glasses to improve the sight of the visually impaired.
Dr Hicks' work is truly inspirational; his invention has the potential to transform the lives of many. - Professor Anthony Cheetham, Vice President and Treasurer of the Royal Society
Most legally blind people still have some residual vision, and this is exploited by the smart glasses. By using information from a depth camera as well as computer vision strategies to reduce the complex visual scene to its most basic, task-relevant elements, the smart glasses allow severely visually impaired people to get more information from their residual vision, and maintain a greater degree of independence.
We are based in the OcuLab at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and work in close collaboration with the Torr Vision group in the department of Engineering.
Our team
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Stephen Hicks
Research Fellow in Neuroscience and Visual Prosthetics
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Stuart Golodetz
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Joram van Rheede
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Smart Glasses Testing
We are keen to learn what it is like to use these glasses in daily life. We are preparing to build a new highly portable model and loan it out to volunteers for a period of time. If you are interested in finding out more the program, including volunteering, please write to info@smart-specs.com with your contact details and you will be contacted in the future. Thank you.
Research Projects
Thank you to everyone who took part in our survey on daily activities. We are now collating the data which will help direct our future research.
Real world enhanced vision
The team recently demonstrated their latest prototype glasses at the Covered Market in Oxford. This new version provides a focused central image which may be useful for enhancing details in nearby objects, such as items on a table or people's faces. Stephen is wearing the glasses, and the image he is seeing is displayed on the laptop nearby.
Hannah Thompson's blog describes her experience trying out our latest headset in the Covered Market in Oxford.
In Touch on Radio 4
Our work was recently discussed on Radio 4's In Touch programme (2014). Johny Cassidy and Red (who is affected by retinitis pigmentosa) came up to our lab to find out more about the glasses and try them out for themselves. They were pleasantly surprised. Have a listen to the programme here.
