Augmented Reality Obstacle Avoidance | Dylan Fox
Channel: XR Access
Date: 2023-02-03

XR Access Research Seminar, Jan 31, 2023

How can augmented reality amplify vision to support obstacle navigation for people with limited sight? Join UC Berkeley researcher and XR Access Head of Community and Outreach Dylan Fox to learn about Augmented Reality Obstacle Avoidance. This research project showcases the opportunities and challenges faced in leveraging AR as an assistive technology, such as using digital cues to improve the contrast of physical obstacles and pointing out hazards that users might miss. With AR devices growing ever more popular, this work hints at how they may follow the smartphone in becoming powerhouses of accessible technology.

Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:20 Vision
5:05 Augmented Reality
9:40 Related Prior Work
14:05 Prototype
18:18 Participants and Procedure
27:01 Main Study Results
38:28 Discussion and Recommendations
51:02 Q&A

Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Iq0CdTp9ueXMDWfEIWNTAAtvNh-Cjjah/view?usp=share_link

Event page on the XR Access website:
https://xraccess.org/augmented-reality-obstacle-avoidance/

Read "Blind in 2040: Specs on Deck," a short speculative fiction about the future of AR vision assistance:
https://bit.ly/specs-on-deck

About the speaker: 
As XR Access’ Head of Community and Outreach, Dylan Fox has advocated for the importance of accessibility on many fronts. He is also a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, where he works in the lab of Dr. Emily Cooper at the School of Optometry on ways to leverage augmented reality for people with low vision. He is a member of the W3C Immersive Captions community group and the IEEE Global Initiative on the Ethics of XR, and specializes in the accessibility of emerging technologies.
https://linkedin.com/in/dylanrfox