WORKSHOP 2015October 24th | Expo Milano 2015Conference Centre Orogel – Sala 256B

EXPO 2015 - ABF & MIT3rd Challenges Workshop“Technology for blind: from prototype to product”.

Keywords:Social inclusion via augmented senses. Impact of academia technological research on society. Technological transfer. From a prototype to a product. Social impact.

Program

PROGRA

MPROGRAM

10:00 - 10:30 OPENING - Authorities, Maestro Andrea Bocelli and MIT. 10:30 - 10:40 How can technology enhance our ability to move safely? Daniela Rus / CSAIL, MIT, MA, US.

10:40 - 10:50 Energy-efficient system design for wearable platforms. Anantha P. Chandrakasan / EECS, MIT, MA, US.

10:50 - 11:00 Sensors, integrated circuits and applications: opportunities and challenges. Karthik Vasanth / Texas Instruments, TX, US.

11:00 - 11:10 Accessibility, how many meanings: one, no one, one hundred thousand? Franco Lisi / Istituto Ciechi, Milan, I.

11:10 - 11:20 Digital fabrication technologies in support of the visually impaired. Edoardo Calia / Istituto Superiore Mario Boella, Turin, I.

11:20 - 11:30 Novel approaches for vision restoration. James Weiland / USC, Los Angeles, CA, US.

11:30 - 11:40 Aira.IO - Visual interpreter for the blind. Suman Kanuganti / Aira.IO, San Diego, CA, US.

11:40 - 11:50 OrCam - See for yourself. Yoni Wexler / Orcam, Jerusalem, IL.

11:50 - 12:10 How the appeal of exterior design can increase the acceptability by the blind community of new technological products. Giorgetto Giugiaro 12:10 - 12:20 Social inclusion via augmented senses: from academia to society. Laura Giarré / ABF, Università di Palermo, Palermo, I.

12:20 - 12:30 CLOSING - Andrea Bocelli, ABF Founder. 12:30 - 14:00 Demo and exposition of some prototypes will be shown and tested. The results of the MIT Fifth Sense Project will be part of this exposition. 14:00 Lunch.

The Demo will continue in the afternoon at Conference Centre Orogel – Sala 70C.

Program

PROGRA

M

challenges

CHALLENGES

ABF Challenges program:Promoting research for the benefit of humankind

The program aims to bring together the best minds to find innovative solutions to help people cope with and overcome the limits imposed by their disability or discomfort.The Challenges program operates within the area of scientific and technological research and social innovation, accepting major challenges in terms of both investments

and results to be achieved in the willingness to allow anyone who experiences economic or social difficulties to express themselves.In this program, the Foundation launches challenges involving high-risk investments and global interest that could contribute to improving the living conditions of many people.

3

3rd Challenges WorkshopOctober 24th | Expo Milano 2015

Feeding minds:“Social inclusion via augmented senses: impact of academia technological research on society. From a prototype to a product”

The objective of the workshop is to present the result of the “MIT Fifth Sense Project” with high class contributions and confrontations and to introduce the step forward on the Challenges Program.The workshop will be mainly of a specific nature. Is there a future for assistive technology Devices outside the Academic Laboratories? What are the step to design a system that can be easily accepted by the blind communities? From a prototype to a product, is the academia ready for the technological transfer? Are the investors ready to put an effort into technology for the empowerment of people with specific needs?The objective is to stimulate scientists, member of the industry or entrepreneurial, on discuss applicative subjects that may be useful for the disabled and in particular the visually impaired and the blind. It is for this reason that the workshop will be useful and interesting also for students, the blind or associations defending their rights, researchers and journalists.Furthermore, in the afternoon an exposition of some prototypes

CHALLENGES4

will be shown and tested. The results of the MIT Fifth Sense Project will be part of this exposition.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

· To study the design of devices to augment senses to low vision and blind people from a prototype into a product, and discuss the impact of academia technological research on society and on technological transfer.· To present the results of the MIT Fifth Sense Project, partially funded by the ABF and developed at EECS department of MIT.· To favour the integration of knowledge for the most efficient results.· To present the results of recent research in the assistive technology and how much influence the products created have had on the society.· To investigate the needs still to be satisfied and the objectives and proposals of research and technological transfer for future action.· To invite companies or organizations for a possible development for the project.· To favour constant exchange between American and Italian Universities.

challengesCHALLENGES5

fifthsenseFIFTHSENSEMIT Fifth Sense ProjectCSAIL, EECS, MIT

A wearable system to improve situational awareness for visually impaired people is designed. The system includes a camera, lidar sensors, an embedded computer, a belt with embedded vibration motors that provide vibration feedback when an obstacle is detected in the direction pointed to by the sensor, and a tactile Braille interface. A low power vision processor has been also designed to miniaturize the system and improve energy efficiency.

This system distinguishes walkable free space from obstacles and identifies a few important types of objects such as the location of a chair, or the distance to a stairway. These descriptions of the surroundings are communicated to the person wearing the device and translated into safe navigation directions. With an energy-efficient computer vision processor we wish to make this work available for everyday life.

6

FIFTHSENSE Safety Navigation for Visually Impaired UsersProf. Daniela Rus, Dr. Hsueh-Cheng Nick Wang, Robert Katzschmann, Brandon Araki, Jordan Allspaw, Rahul Kumar Namdev, Dr. Santani Teng.

Low-power 3-D Vision Processor for a Navigation Device for the Visually ImpairedProf. Anantha P. Chandrakasan, Dr. Dongsuk Jeon, Dr. Nathan Ickes, and Priyanka Raina.

Industrial Design of the wearable systems and TestsGrace Teo, Nicole Jimenez, Paul Parravano.

ABF Scientific CoordinatorProf. Laura Giarré (ABF, Università di Palermo).

7

Daniela RusCSAIL, MIT, MA, US.

AbstractThe digitization of practically everything coupled with the mobile Internet, miniaturization, and advanced robotics promises a future with human augmentation using computation and machines. Technology will enable people to extend their abilities. In this talk I will discuss challenges toward using ideas from robotics to create assistive technologies for the visually impaired. What if a small wearable item (for example a belt, a hat, or a pendant) that includes sensors and the ability to compute and communicate can be used to identify the surrounding environment? Using data from its sensors, the system could detect the free space and identify the objects in the surrounding world, pointing out, for example, where is the door, how far to a stair way, or what is the furniture arrangement in the room. What if these descriptions could be communicated to the person wearing the device and translated into safe navigation directions? I will describe our recent results in creating a system for safe navigation for the visually impaired that has some of these features. With assistive technologies for the visually impaired, we can begin to imagine a world where moving safely in the world is possible for everybody.

BioDaniela Rus is the Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. Rus’s research interests are in robotics, mobile computing, and big data. Rus is a Class of 2002 MacArthur Fellow, a fellow of ACM, AAAI and IEEE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She earned her PhD in Computer Science from Cornell University.

How can technology enhance our ability to move safely?

8

Anantha P. ChandrakasanEECS, MIT, MA, US.

Energy-efficient system design for wearable platforms.

AbstractThe use of low-power sensors and electronics can greatly enhance the environment awareness for the visually impaired. For example, using a Time-of-Flight camera, which captures depth information, along with a processor which implements computer vision techniques, can assist a user in obstacle avoidance. A key challenge in implementing such a navigation system is to implement the sensing, processing, energy conversion, and communication in an energy-efficient fashion. To reduce energy requires a system-level approach. The use of duty-cycling of the ToF sensor using user and environment state, can dramatically reduce energy consumption by reducing illumination power. The use of a hardwired processor for the computation can reduce energy by two orders of magnitude compared to software implementations. To maximize energy savings, the computation should exploit data statistics and low-voltages using architectural parallelism. The energy source and management are critical in managing user experience. Integrating wireless power and energy harvesting allows the user to extend system use time. The overall system-level trade-offs will be described in the presentation.

BioAnantha P. Chandrakasan received the B.S, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989, 1990, and 1994 respectively. Since September 1994, he has been with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, where he is currently the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering. He was a co-recipient of several awards including the 1993 IEEE Communications Society’s Best Tutorial Paper Award, the IEEE Electron Devices Society’s 1997 Paul Rappaport Award for

9

the Best Paper in an EDS publication during 1997, the 1999 DAC Design Contest Award, the 2004 DAC/ISSCC Student Design Contest Award, the 2007 ISSCC Beatrice Winner Award for Editorial Excellence and the ISSCC Jack Kilby Award for Outstanding Student Paper (2007, 2008, 2009). He received the 2009 Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) University Researcher Award. He is the recipient of the 2013 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering.His research interests include micro-power digital and mixed-signal integrated circuit design, wireless microsensor system design, portable multimedia devices, energy efficient radios and emerging technologies. He is a co-author of Low Power Digital CMOS Design (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995), Digital Integrated Circuits (Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2003, 2nd edition), and Sub-threshold Design for Ultra-Low Power Systems (Springer 2006). He is also a co-editor of Low Power CMOS Design (IEEE Press, 1998), Design of High-Performance Microprocessor Circuits (IEEE Press, 2000), and Leakage in Nanometer CMOS Technologies (Springer, 2005). He has served as a technical program co-chair for the 1997 International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED), VLSI Design ‘98, and the 1998 IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Systems. He was the Signal Processing Sub-committee Chair for ISSCC 1999-2001, the Program Vice-Chair for ISSCC 2002, the Program Chair for ISSCC 2003, the Technology Directions Sub-committee Chair for ISSCC 2004-2009, and the Conference Chair for ISSCC 2010-2014. He is the Conference Chair for ISSCC 2015. He was an Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits from 1998 to 2001. He served on SSCS AdCom from 2000 to 2007 and he was the meetings committee chair from 2004 to 2007. He was the Director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories from 2006 to 2011. Since July 2011, he is the Head of the MIT EECS Department.

10

Karthik VasanthTexas Instruments, TX, US.

Sensors, integrated circuits and applications: opportunities and challenges

Abstract In a connected world there is a relentless drive to sense, measure, collect and interpret a large number of parameters. These parameters could be environmental or location based and used to enhance/assist every facet of our lives. Sensors and electronics form the parameter acquisition part of this new ecosystem. This talk will address the significant opportunities and the crucial role sensors and electronics have to play in this ecosystem. Power, size and performance of sensors need to be scaled to meet the needs of remote monitoring. The challenges could be as varied as weeklong battery operation for a wearable bio-sensing device or 10 year remote monitoring of an industrial facility. Wearable devices are getting sophisticated enough in their sensing technology and processing power to measure/interpret bio-signals and assist in collision avoidance for the visually impaired. This fusion between sensors, integrated circuits and processing power has the ability to impact so many aspects of our daily lives. The talk will also focus on the power / size challenges faced by sensors and integrated circuits and work being done to advance the state of the art in these areas.

Bio Karthik Vasanth is the General Manager of the Medical, High-Reliability and Sensing businesses at Texas Instruments. Karthik joined TI’s Silicon Technology Development group in 1995. He has worked on many product innovations in device modeling, high performance RF products and medical IC’s. Having worked on the compact process and device simulation models, Karthik was also involved in the development and validation of advanced SPICE models including BSIM4. Elected as a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Texas Instruments in 2005, he managed the high performance RF circuit design team. Karthik received the Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and his Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University. He has published over 30 papers and authored/co-authored several patents.

11

Franco LisiIstituto Ciechi, Milan, I.

Accessibility, how many meanings: one, no one, one hundred thousand?

AbstractThe speech offers some reflections on the different meanings that are commonly attributed to the concept of accessibility, in addition to its many forms. The report, beginning with the most significant theoretical and normative references, highlights concrete elements taken also from the experience of life of the speaker. Blind, representative of many commissions for the autonomy of persons with visual impairment within the association, Lisi carries on his professional activity at the Institute of the Blind of Milan. He is responsible for the design, development and promotion of many projects to promote social integration of blind people through the removal of architectural and cultural barriers, both outdoor (squares, streets, parks, sports centers, etc.) and indoor (public buildings, hospitals, schools, companies, etc.). The technological element assumes, in this perspective, a growing role, often revealing unimaginable situations and responses, resulting in an amazing quality leap. Researchers and insiders keep the hard task of being able to turn change into progress: to be able to grasp the really significant aspects that would lead to concrete solutions useful for the independent life of the blind people.BioFranco Lisi has a Degree in Sociology; and in Political Science; a Diploma as Coach for personal growth and management and a Diploma as Electronic Programmer; He is Vice President of the Italian Chamber Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Milan; Regional Director of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Lombardy, Representative of the Regional Council dell’UICI within the FAND Regional; Referent for the Regional Commission for autonomy; Member of the Management Committee of the Regional Fund for Employment of the Disabled and Regional director of IRIFOR. He is now working as Head of the Computer Centre of the Institute of the Blind of Milan, Italy.

12

Edoardo CaliaIstituto Superiore Mario Boella, Turin, I.

AbstractThe presentation could include 3-4 examples of “makers” projects dedicated to help blind or visually impaired people. The makers community is booming all over the world, putting together people who rediscover the passion to make things using both their hands and modern technologies such as Computer Aided Design and digital fabrication machines. Some of the projects are designed to help visualize either abstract concepts (like math formulas) or physical objects like monuments, art masterpieces, complex objects. This can be a valuable support to provide information to blind or visually impaired users. In this speech I will briefly present the most effective and successful international projects carried out by university, schools and industries.

Bio Edoardo Calia graduated from Politecnico di Torino (MSEE: 1987, PhD: 1992), and he spent most of his professional career working on innovation based and Communication Technologies. After several years – some of which in USA – spent working on research projects on Internetworking and distributed computing, he contributed in 2001 to the startup of Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB), a research center set up by Politecnico di Torino and Compagnia di San Paolo, where he is currently Deputy Director for Strategic Programs. ISMB carries out applied research projects in several application domains where Information Technologies play a key enabler role (urban mobility, e-health, energy etc).

Digital fabrication technologies in support of the visually impaired.

13

James WeilandUSC, Los Angeles, CA, US.

Abstract James Weiland received his B.S. from the University of Michigan in 1988. After 4 years in industry with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines, he returned to Michigan for graduate school, earning degrees in Biomedical Engineering (M.S. 1993, Ph.D. 1997) and Electrical Engineering (M.S. 1995). He joined the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at Johns Hopkins University in 1997 as a postdoctoral fellow and, in 1999, was appointed an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Weiland was appointed assistant professor at the Doheny Eye Institute-University of Southern California in 2001. Currently, Dr. Weiland is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California. He is Deputy Director of the Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems Engineering Research Center. Dr. Weiland’s research

interests include retinal prostheses, neural prostheses, electrode technology, visual evoked responses, implantable electrical systems, and wearable visual aids for the blind. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He is a member of EMBS, Sigma Xi, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

BioNovel science and technology are revolutionizing the field of ophthalmology and making possible restoration of vision in previously incurable diseases. This presentation will review three approaches that are at different stages of development: bioelectronic retinal prostheses, stem-cell therapy for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and wearable computer vision systems. Bioelectronic retinal prostheses

Novel approaches for vision restoration.

14

have progressed from laboratory and early clinical experiments, to medical devices approved for sale by the FDA and European Union. The clinical trials have shown that individuals who have at best light perception vision, can use spatial information from the retinal prosthesis to detect motion, locate objects, and read letters. Improvements in navigation and mobility have been noted. To treat AMD, which is characterized by a loss of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, a novel stem cell treatment uses RPE cells derived from stem cells which are then seeded onto a synthetic membrane. The implanted scaffold of RPE cells will function to support and replenish photoreceptors of the retina, which may help restore and prevent vision loss in patients with AMD. Safety and efficacy of the implant was confirmed based on the animal studies. As well, results indicated that the

stem cell therapy successfully decreased the progression of retinal degeneration in rats. This therapy will be used to treat patients in the upcoming phase 1 human clinical trial. A third approach to treating blindness involves a prototype computer vision system, aiding in navigation and object localization. A complete processing algorithm has been constructed that allows a user to instruct the wearable camera and computer system to find a particular object. Once the object is located, the wearable computer system provides verbal and/or tactile cues to guide the user to the object of interest. Tests show that blind volunteers are able to follow these cues to complete navigation tasks and reach-and-grasp tasks. Brain imaging of the central visual pathways will be a key technique for evaluating the long-term effects of these therapies, since modifications in the visual input will result in.

15

Suman KanugantiAira.IO, San Diego, CA, US.

Aira.IO - Visual interpreter for the blind.

AbstractAira.IO, based in San Diego, is an emerging firm focused on developing technology and services that allow blind and low-vision individuals greater independence in performing a myriad of daily activities – ranging from navigating city streets and using a menu to order meals at restaurants, to recognizing faces in a crowd. In doing so, Aira provides personalized assistance from a network of certified Agents, plus family and friends. Aira agents use a real-time interactive cloud-based dashboard purpose-built to process live data streams from cameras, GPS, and other sensor systems from wearable platforms such as Google Glass and Vuzix. Aira’s platform uses an “Uber” style intelligent routing algorithm for connecting a vast crowdsource of agents to users for immediate assistance based on user preferences and agent schedules.

BioSuman Kanuganti is Co-Founder &

CEO of Aira.IO, an emerging high-tech company based in San Diego, CA that is focused on developing technology and services that bring greater mobility and independence into the lives of the blind and visually impaired. With a passion and penchant for startups, and for finding creative solutions to traditional problems that impact the lives of everyday people, Kanuganti has also leveraged his expertise and leadership at such firms as Intuit, Qualcomm, and Caterpillar. Kanuganti’s career as an innovator in the world of technology and business spans more than a decade, during which time he has been awarded 5 patents (as inventor or co-inventor) in interactive computer devices. He received his MBA in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies from the UC San Diego Rady School of Management; his Master’s in Computer Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Kakatiya University, India.

16

Yonatan WexlerOrcam, Jerusalem, IL.

OrCam - See for yourself.

AbstractOne of the hardest thing about being visually impaired is the limited access to information. In our age, information is the key to success in any field. Being able to read anything, anywhere, allows children to excel in their studies and changes their career plans and opportunities. OrCam is a revolutionary device that whispers in your ear the information you can no longer see. It instantly reads anything you tell it to read, on any surface and sign, faster than a human would. It tells you which friend is approaching, what product you are holding, and more. By making information instantly available, it is the first device that focuses on navigating the intellect and not just the physical world.

BioDr. Yonatan Wexler is an award winning researcher in the field of Computer Vision who has conducted research at the University of Maryland, Oxford University, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Microsoft. His focus is on efficient use of visual information that enables exciting new abilities. Yonatan currently leads the R&D team at OrCam, a company that has developed a unique device for blind and visually impaired people. OrCam harnesses the power of Artificial Vision to compensate for lost visual abilities thus enabling visually impaired people to overcome the barriers that impede their independence.

17

Giorgetto Giugiaro

How the appeal of exterior design can increase the acceptability by the blind community of new technological products.

AbstractCurrently at the testing stage, the “MIT Fifth Sense Project” has all it takes to stimulate a passionate interest not only among the experts and technologists conducting research work in favour of the blind community, but also among those working in the traditional sector of industrial design. I believe that non specialist designers should focus not so much on improving the appearance of the device, but rather on making it more functional, pleasurable and easy to use “Nice looking” should translate into “nice to the touch” and easy to wear and to understand. Engineering and technology should help reduce standard production costs (in terms of materials selection, components ease of assembly, etc.). The independence and freedom of movement in ambulation offered by the device encourage further studies to enable driverless vehicles to be put into production. At present, tests on such vehicles are being conducted by Google, Audi, Toyota and other manufacturers. In this connection, I believe that valuable lessons may be learned from the experience acquired by Italdesign in 1992 with their electric traction prototype Biga, which proposed easy access via the tailgate and a car sharing with credit card formula. In our case, the vehicle should be equipped with route planning software running on a computer.

Bio Born in the city of Garessio, in the province of Cuneo, on 7 August 1938 to a family of artists and musicians, in 1952 Giugiaro moved to Turin where he took figurative arts, drafting and technical design courses. In 1955, through the intervention of Dante Giacosa, technical manager of Fiat, he began working at Giacosa’s Special Vehicles Styling Office. After a very profitable apprenticeship, in December 1959, he was asked by Nuccio Bertone to take the position of manager of the historic styling centre. For six years, he designed prestigious cars for Fiat, Alfa Romeo and various foreign brands, then joined Carrozzeria Ghia as Director of the Styling Centre and the Prototype Department. In 1968, with a friend, technologist Aldo Mantovani, he founded in Moncalieri Italdesign, an independent organisation supplying services

18

to the automotive world. Their mission was innovative and focused on providing a wide range of services to car makers, including creativity, engineering development, prototype construction and testing services. This is when Giugiaro began to produce dozens of car designs earmarked for production and to experiment with unprecedented formal and conceptual developments through motor show prototypes which anticipated the evolution of the car and vehicles in general. His concept cars inspired solutions that would prove eminently successful over the years: compact cars with a tall body, aerodynamic shapes for improved fuel economy, city cars, and hybrid vehicles including sports-inspired models. In 45 years of activity under the Italdesign brand name, Giugiaro designed 200 models that were put into production resulting in a total of 60 million cars on the roads. Besides successful Japanese, Korean and, more recently, Chinese models, he was responsible for the design of the Volkswagen models of the 1970s, including Golf, Passat, and Scirocco; he designed the Audi ’80 and the Seat Ibiza, Toledo and Malaga. In 1975 he started collaborating with the Fiat Group, creating celebrated best selling cars such as Lancia Delta, Prisma and Thema, the Fiat Panda, Uno, Croma and new Croma, Grande Punto, Fiat Sedici, and a new family of Alfa Romeo models (156, 159, 159 SportWagon, Brera coupé ). In 1990, his son Fabrizio, who had already worked on the development of the Machimoto and Aztec futuristic concept cars, joined the company on a permanent basis. In 1991 Fabrizio Giugiaro was appointed head of the research vehicle department, and shortly afterwards took the position of Director of the Styling and Prototype Area, which he kept until 2013. Since 1974 Giugiaro had supplemented his design work for cars and other vehicles (trams, trains, subway trains, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, tractors) with an 2 industrial design division, operating under the brand name of Giugiaro Design. The firm collaborated with prestigious international companies (such as Nikon, Sony, Seiko, Apple, Siemens, Ferrero, L’Oreal, Luxottica, Merloni Indesit, Okamura, Shiseido, Swatch, Telecom, Telepiù/Canal Plus, Fiat Ferroviaria, Alstom, Ansaldo Breda, Trenitalia, Piaggio, Bridgestone, Sanpellegrino, etc.), designing semidurable and consumer goods for a wide variety of industrial and commercial sectors, and produced park and street furnishing design projects for public entities. In 2010 Italdesign Giugiaro became part of the Volkswagen Group and started working across the board, with all the different VW brands. In September 2015 Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro relinquished all their positions in Italdesign. The design methodology adopted by Giugiaro puts the emphasis on functional factors combined with comfort, reduced weight and lower production costs by making use of the most advanced technologies, also in terms of efficient energy use. Aesthetic results should not override the overall design intelligence of a project. This approach is reflected in his trailblazing solutions for runabouts – first and foremost the Fiat Panda – and the Biga project: an electric vehicle with easy access for wheelchairs via the tailgate, made available by the public administrations for car sharing programs in pedestrian areas closed to private vehicle traffic. The same ergonomic design approach is reflected in the consumer goods styled by Giugiaro, whether photo cameras, watches, tools or medical devices, they all invariably strive to provide the best answer possible in terms of safety and ease of use. Having been at the centre of public attention for many years, Giugiaro is often invited to express his “vision of the world” on the international stage, and not just in terms of cars and design.

19

Laura GiarréABF, Università di Palermo, Palermo, I.

Social inclusion via augmented senses: from academia to society.

AbstractHow much the empowerment of people with specific needs can benefit from innovative technological solutions? Is there a future for assistive technology devices outside the Academic Laboratories? Social innovation means developing new ideas, services and models to better address social issues. It invites input from public and private actors, including civil society, to improve social services. Social investment is about investing in people., answering to the Challenge of strengthening people’s current and future capacities, and improving their opportunities to participate in society and the labor market. What are the step to design a system that can be easily accepted by the blind communities? A case study is presented.

Bio Laura Giarré received the Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering from the Università di Firenze, Italy and the Ph.D. degree in System Engineering from the Università di Bologna, Italy, in 1986 and 1992, respectively. She has held visiting positions at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at MIT, Boston (1999, 2006, 2015). Since 1993 she was Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy and since 1998 she has been Associate Professor at the Università di Palermo, Italy and qualified as full professor in 2014. She served as Associate Editor of Systems and Control Letters, (1999-2012) and IEEE Transaction on Automatic Control (2012-2015).Her research interests include networked systems, smart grid, identification and assistive technology. She is cofounder and CEO of In.sight srl. She is member of the advisory board of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation and scientific coordinator for the Challenges program.

20

DEMO description and instruction.Safe navigation for visually impaired users.

PurposeWe design a wearable system to improve situational awareness for visually impaired people. The system includes a camera, an embedded computer and a belt with embedded vibration motors that provide vibration feedback when an obstacle is detected in the direction pointed to by the sensor. This system distinguishes walkable free space from obstacles and identifies a few important types of objects such as the location of a chair, or the distance to a stairway. These descriptions of the surroundings are communicated to the person wearing the device and translated into safe navigation directions.

Demo Instructions

System I: Belt with motors and depth camera/lidar

1) Learning Phase · Feel the vibrations of the motors from 1 to 5 with the intensity going from maximum to zero. · Learn how to interpret the vibration by going back and forth in front of a cartoon wall. · Turn left, right, and around to feel the empty space and learn the angle of view and the intensity correlated to the distance.

2) Walking Phase · Go into the maze and walk without collision.

System II: Braille device and depth camera

1) Learning Phase · Stand in front of one chair and one box, and learn that ‘c’ stands for a chair, ‘o’ for an obstacle, and ‘f’ is free space. The device has two lines of pins: the first row indicates objects far away (> 1.0 m), and the second row for close objects (< 1.0 m).

2) Game phase · Find an empty chair among three chairs in front of you.

21

22

visionVISION

missionMISSION

Andrea Bocelli Foundation

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

ABF VISION“I strongly believe that love does justice. And it is for this simple reason that we are all responsible for building a better world. Since love energizes faith, the opposite must also be true. The amazing lives we have been gifted, offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give the less fortunate a better future and opportunities.’’

ABF MISSIONThe Andrea Bocelli Foundation was created to help people in need due to illness, disability, poverty and social exclusion by promoting and supporting national and international projects that support the overcoming of these barriers and full self-expression.

The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. MIT is dedicated to providing its students with an education that combines rigorous academic study and the excitement of discovery with the support and intellectual stimulation of a diverse campus community. We seek to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.

Headquarter: Via Volterrana 49, Lajatico (Pisa) ItalyMail: info@andreabocellifoundation.org - Tel: +39 0587.643353

www.andreabocellifoundation.org - www.abfmit.com