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Google Glass as an assistive technology
Transcript
17 March 2013
Roberta: Technology giant Google has recently unveiled Glass, a much anticipated product which integrates Smartphone technology into a pair of Glasses that you can wear. Eliza Cussen from Media Access Australia is here to talk about the potential of the device for people with a disability. Welcome Eliza.
Eliza: Hi Roberta, thanks for having me.
Roberta: Now there has been a bit of a social media frenzy about this product, so what have people got to get excited about?
Eliza: Well, of course it is Google and when a giant like Apple or Google release a product people tend to get a bit worked up about it. And of course, Google were encouraging this and when they announced the release of Glass they did it with a focus on Twitter and Google Plus and people all around the world lapped it up, for sure.
What they did is promote a hashtag, a little promotional tool on Twitter and Google Plus that said, “If I had Glass…”. So people were taking the idea and coming up with ideas about how they would apply it.
Roberta: So who has the product been developed for?
Eliza: Well it’s very much a mainstream technology. It’s been developed much in the same way as the first Smartphones or tablets, as kind of a breakthrough, almost revolutionary technology for everyday use.
Roberta: And so what are some of the potential uses for people who would have a disability, Eliza?
Eliza: Well, that is a very good question. And that’s something that we will work out over, I expect the next decade or so. Because the wonderful thing about Google technology is that they’re open to third party app developers. So what that means is anyone, you or I or people more talented than you and I, can develop applications, pieces of software, that make use of it. In that regard the potential for this as an assistive technology is almost endless. The limit is our imagination.
For instance, it used voice recognition, much like Apple’s Siri technology. So you say okay Glass, show me a picture of a panda. And up, in front of your eyes, a picture of a panda will appear.
Obviously for people with mobility restrictions, that’s quite amazing. Because if you have arthritis or even quadriplegia you can operate the technology completely hands free. This is something we’re very excited about.
But then moving on to the world of sensory impairment, it gets even more exciting. One element which my imagination kind of went wild with was for people who are deaf. And obviously, you know, in real life, talking to people who aren’t familiar with sign language is a real problem. So the potential of this technology means that it could use voice recognition technology to basically transcribe real life conversations, making everyday life captioned. I think that’s pretty amazing.
Obviously the technology has a bit of a way to go with that, but the potential is there. And even for vision impairment, you might think a pair of, you know, if you’re completely blind a pair of Glasses might not really help you. But thinking of the potential of it again, if the technology uses what we call optical recognition, so it uses something like facial recognition or it compares what you see against, you know, a database of images on Google images, for instance, it could announce whatever is in front of you. It could say that the person talking to you is Tim and could print out details of Tim’s Facebook profile. It could tell you that you’re now facing the Eiffel Tower or that two blocks ahead of you is a street sign, leading to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Roberta: This is amazing.
Eliza: It really, really is, isn’t it? I think this is really an evolution of Siri, you know, taking that kind of, what they call an intelligent agent, which is a piece of semantic software, and creating a piece of technology specifically designed to make use of it. I think that’s very, very exciting.
Roberta: Now, two big questions Eliza. When will the device be available and how much do you think it will cost?
Eliza: Well amongst all the social media frenzy, Google are actually being very scant on the details. They’re allowing a few lucky winners to pay for it at this stage. Obviously they’re trying to tell people that you’re very lucky if you get your hands on one of these things. But they’ve also said that they’re going to make it widely available by the end of the year.
And hopefully for a cost of under 1500 US dollars. It is worth saying, before people start saving up their pennies to get one, what we’re talking about here is the potential of the technology. Anyone who’s looked at Google’s automatic captions on You Tube will know that their voice recognition technology still has a long way to go. We’re trying to get people excited about where the technology could be taken.
Roberta: Well, for more information on technology that might assist you or someone you know who is blind or vision impaired, Media Access Australia has a wealth of information on its website. Or you can give them a call on 02 92126242. I’ve been speaking with Eliza Cussen from Media Access Australia. And Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.