Like Braille, HapWare’s ALEYE allows users to engage with the world through a sensation on their skin. But rather than turning written language into bumpy dots, it turns nonverbal communication (hand gestures, facial expressions) into vibration patterns. The wearable device is designed for people who are blind, low vision, deaf-blind and neurodiverse.
ALEYE is a wristband that connects to smart glasses for the purpose of detecting nonverbal social cues and converting them into vibration patterns.
You might be asking yourself, “What does a smile feel like on someone’s wrist?” The ALEYE wristband vibrates in a way that basically draws a nonverbal cue. For a smile, it will vibrate in a U-shaped pattern resembling a happy face. For a wave, it will vibrate from side to side.
Users can customize the device through an app to choose the cues they want to detect and convert. This allows users’ loved ones and caregivers to help them navigate certain social situations as well.
As HapWare CEO and Co-Founder Jack Walters said in our Assistive Technology Update interview: “Maybe you’re a parent and you have a teenager that wants to use the device. You could select the cues yourself — whether they’re going to school, going to hang out with one of their friends or going on a date. You can select vibration patterns for social cues based on these different experiences, and they can always be adapted in real time on the app with just a few presses of a button.”
For more information about the ALEYE wristband, visit hapware.com.
Images courtesy of HapWare.
