The tool that gives sight to the blind

Genoa - At first it seems to be a simple tool, one of many new generation devices one can find in the display cases of high-tech stores that have popped up all over Italy. It is similar to a pair of glasses, but one wears it the other way around. In practice, however, it is a new invention made in Liguria, which could radically change the lives of people who are blind or have poor eyesight. The device, which is called “Horus,” will be available to buy from the beginning of 2016. A very young team of Ligurian researchers designed it, almost all of them under 25, and in recent months they have already won a flood of recognition, both in Italy and internationally. “What we have created,” Saverio Murgia, the engineer and C.E.O. of Horus Technology company, explained, “could considerably improve the lives of those who have major vision problems. It allows anyone who wears it, through vocal assistance, to read any kind of text, recognise people, and most importantly, to identify objects.” Using a small camera, the device can decipher the world that surrounds an individual with vision problems. It is a digital device that can be carried in one’s pocket like a simple mobile phone, and can decipher images and transform them into words that are immediately communicated to the device’s user.

In a couple of weeks, in Padua, the group of researchers will receive a prize at MIT Technology Review Italy, as one of the most innovative companies among the ten that have obtained the highest score in Italy. “In the coming months,” Murgia continued, “the product will be commercialised first in Italy and then abroad, since we are already receiving many requests especially from France, Holland, Poland, Canada and Japan.” The company’s management has announced that “Horus” will have a purchase price that will be, “within everyone’s reach,” another reason to hypothesise that it will be successful, “almost immediately.” The device has already been tested with excellent results by blind people and individuals with poor vision. The function of the device does not rely on internet access, because the device works solely on the basis of images that come from the outside world. The team of researchers has registered a patent in order to hold the exclusive rights to use the design. “We will soon hire three new researchers with open-ended contracts,” Murgia said in conclusion, “this is a sign that despite everything, development is possible in Italy.”