In recent years, researchers have been working to adapt technology developed for robot control to the development of high-technology assistive devices for the visually impaired.  Samarabandu and McIsaac are working to extend the development of assistive technology into a new area: object tracking and visual image-based control. 

Samarabandu and McIsaac use the technology of computer vision to provide a kind of “surrogate sight” for the human user, sensing information from the environment and communicating it through touch.  The product under development is a low-cost computer system which uses a colour camera to analyze a scene and recognize a desired object, then generates cues to the wearer’s arm to steer his or her hand towards the object.  In future work, Samarabandu and McIsaac will be able to build on this foundation to create a wearable computer system with all the capabilities of a seeing-eye dog, but at a fraction of the cost.

Samarabandu and McIsaac welcome collaborations with interested researchers in kinesiology, psychology and bioengineering.  For more information, contact Jagath Samarabandu (ext. 80058) or Ken McIsaac (ext. 88243).