BENVISION
BenVision is an AR solution for visually impaired individuals to navigate and enjoy the world around them by turning landscapes into soundscapes using camera vision.
Overview
BenVision is a team project done in 3 days during MIT Reality Hackathon. The team included Patrick Burton, Mateusz Kierepka, Louell L. S. and Soobin Ha.
This project won the award for Working Together for Inclusion and Equity at MIT Reality Hack.
We recognized that while many existing products focus on highlighting obstacles for safety, they lack the emotional component that sight provides. We wanted to create a solution that is both functional and evocative, so we chose to incorporate spatial audio to guide users while also evoking emotions through soundscapes. Our goal is to make the outdoors accessible and enjoyable for those with low vision.
What I did
- Researched and designed the concept and features.
- Prototyped a concept prototype for demo in Unity
- Pitched and presented the prototype to judges and at Expo.
- Collaborated in a multi-disciplinary team with a product manager, videographer, programmer, and audio designer.
Learning Points
01. Prioritize emotional and functional needs in design.
02. Facilitate easy access to information.
03. Ensure a sound Information Architecture for Machine Learning effectiveness.
" Lucas, your award-winning design work on the MIT Reality Hack project produced an incredible experience for people like me who are legally blind and have very low to no vision. The brilliant concept of combining traditional functional navigation sounds with a symphony soundscape leveraging spatial audio to “display”
and experience beauty, amazed me."
Chris McNally, Co-Founder of iMcNally and person with low vision
Reflections
Create a conceptual prototype to showcase ideas during brainstorming
Incorporate user feedback as early as possible in the design process
Focus on prototyping core features that can be developed quickly