Touch
Bringing color within reach
Touch is a smart ring designed to assist the visually impaired identify color and read small texts by simply touching an item. This can be used in every day tasks such as shopping for clothes and groceries, allowing them to have a greater sense of independence.
This project was awarded the UAE National James Dyson Award in 2020.
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Prototyping
Our early prototypes were focused on creating an add-on to the common walking cane to go along with a ring. It would house all the buttons needed to interact with the ring. But after user testing, we quickly discovered that a lot of them don't like the cane and would rather not use it as it makes them stand out.
We shifted our focus to the ring, trying to figure out what's the best way to make it comfortable, stylish, and practical. We settled on layering laser cut acrylic pieces to create the current prototype. It was simple, subtle, and efficient.
The Ring
Touch has three modes; standby mode, color mode, and reading mode. When interacting with the ring, it vibrates, lights up, and communicates with the user audibly using any bluetooth earphones. The user is to wear the ring on their non-dominant hand and tap once and hold on the ring to activate color mode.
Once in color mode, the user holds an item for 2 seconds to allow for a color sensor to detect the color and read it back to the user. In the case where multiple colors are detected the user is prompted to slowly move their hand across the clothing item to scan the colors and read them back.
The user can switch to reading mode by double-tapping and holding on the ring. They are then prompted to slowly move their finger across the text, to allow for the OCR to read the words back to them. In addition, the ring comes with a portable charging pod that lights up and reads out the charge.
How it works
