Test postfrom the gazipur flower market. Also testing automatic image descriptions.
Flower market test
The Kangaroo PC as a vision hub
Some time ago, I got a Kangaroo pc to test with the the vOICe. The Kangaroo has the following advantages.
- It is small and thin.
- It has a built-in battery.
- It runs true Microsoft Windows
- It has multiple USB ports.
Disadvantages
- No 3.5 MM jack so you need to use wireless speakers or headphones or a HDMI splitter cable that separates the video from audio.
- You need to carry a separate keyboard.
- The Kangaroo PC is not easily available. A cousin gifted me one for my birthday.
I finally have a working setup with the device.
The first challenge is to setup the device. You will need to connect a keyboard and monitor to it unless you have a USB sound card or plugin a splitter HDMI cable. The USB sound card may be easier because some of them, set themselves as the default sound device.
I then installed NVDA on it along with NVDA remote. so that I could control the kangaroo PC from my existing setup. I set NVDA remote to connect automatically.
I then connected it to my wireless network and I had remote control
I then had to install the vOICe and the drivers for the video glasses I was using and I was ready to go.
Another thing I did was set the kangaroo PC to login automatically. Yes, it is more secure to use the fingerprint sensor but I want a device that gives me vision at the touch of a button. Moreover, I do not have any sensitive information on that machine.
BOQ
Kangaroo PC
HDMI male to female cable with audio
An UVC compliant infrared camera for night vision
Notes
- You will not get any indication if the kangaroo pc is on or off. To switch on the device, ensure that you are wearing headphones and hit the power button for about 2 seconds. The unit does have lights therefore a light probe may be handy.
- I have not tried wireless headsets but they may be a better option.
- You will need to use the doc because the main device does not have any USB ports.
- If using a UVC compliant camera, ensure that you have ffdshow installed and read the FAQ on MJpeg compression
Romping on wheels with Planet Abled through the sands of time
I had visited the Heritage Transport Museum thanks to an event organized by Planet Abled. This is a little known place in Taoru, Haryana. The roads are excellent until the last mile and the drive is an easy one at least on a Sunday. As always, the trip was well organized and the staff at the museum had been briefed beforehand on what to expect. There was none of the explanations required about disability. We went directly into the experience. The museum is well maintained and there was little to no dust on any of the exhibits. I know this because, Planet Abled had obtained permission to allow the group to touch them. As usual on such excursions, I was wearing my artificial eye and took a fair number of photographs using my iPhone SE and the After Sight model 1.
Thanks to Ragini and Sonu at the museum for their patience and help.
Thanks to Neha Arora, CEO Planet Abled for describing the photographs I took.
Glimpses of the pearl of the Andaman
I visited Thailand in October 2015. It was a badly needed holiday. I spent most of my time in Phuket.
Some of the subsequent photographs may give you the impression that Phuket consists only of electric poles or I have a fascination with electric poles. The former is not the case and I am fascinated by technology which is significantly more than electric poles. Electric poles formed interesting shapes as I zoomed past them in a rented mini van.
As for the rest of the images on this blog, I took them while wearing the the vOICe. I was using a prototype of the vOICe rendered on the raspberry pi. See After-sight unit 1 for details.
Finally, thanks to my cousins Janak and Suhani for a fantastic holiday and image descriptions
These images relate to the Big Buddha.One warning, be careful around the base of the temple as there are several dogs in the vvasinity. They did not appear to be aggressive when I was there but there were enough of them to make me uneasy. They were everywhere especially where you have to take off your shoes. In addition, if you have sensitive ears, be warned about the fireworks that are let off every evening or so I am told< 
Electric poles with wires, and on the right side, a white sign with red lettering and a big red arrow pointing to the left. The arrow says Big Buddha.[/caption]
We now come to the beech. Phuket is crowded and you should read the tourist literature before venturing on to them. To paraphrase the literature, keep your sense of humor handy. We will start with some street scenes.
We ran the gontlet of Bangla Road and emerged in an oasis of calm namely the Wine Connection. The thing with Bangla road is to keep moving. Show that you have a purpose and maintain high situational awareness. This is difficult to do due to the cacophony created by all the outside bars and restaurants. No taking pictures unless you are prepared to be propositioned. This is one place where the crowd will not leave you alone.
IMG_952
Clay infinitum
I was a part of the clay modeling workshop conducted by Planet Abled and The Clay Company.
I have vague memories of modeling with clay in grade 1 but I had not touched clay after that.
The interesting thing about clay modeling is that you work in 3 dimensions. I thought it would be easy to produce what I imagined but that was not the case. For example, I was instructed to make a mask. How do I make a nose? I should have put clay around my own nose and but I thought of that trick once the mask was complete.
We used ceramic clay instead of terracotta clay.
My biggest challenge came in shaping the clay. I would damage the slab when I tried engraving. The answer was to use cooky cutters to get the shape I wanted.
My biggest surprise was the shape of the sphere. For the shapes I made, the first thing that I was instructed to do was to form a sphere with the clay. I then took a rolling pin and flattened the ball. Once that was done, I could begin shaping. I mentioned this to my father who pointed out that the sphere is the symbol for infinity.
Another thing to be aware of was the pressure. If I put too much, the clay would begin to disintegrate. If it was too little, the clay would stay as is.
My thanks to Aparna Choudhrie, founder of the Clay Company for her incite on design. I had asked her how should I decide what shape I want in a design. Her answer was that “each shape should tell a story.” This was just the right starting point for my writer self. I can now begin to think of creating shapes that have meaning without my brain freezing on fractals, perspective, solid geometry etc.
As always, special thanks to the volunteers from The Clay Company and from Planet Abled. The class would not have been the same without you.
The FootLoose Vibe: universal design at its bbest
Universal design is not something one would usually associate with dating events. However, the event (The VIBE – Delhi) conducted by Footloose No More was a superb example of how things can be made inclusive for everyone. I am not going to go into the challenges of online dating and the extreme focus on pixels on many dating websites. Footloose is different since the website is an adjunct to their offline events. Most of the Footloose events are unstructured where you walk up to the person of choice and start talking. If you are blind, then there are some unique problems with this format.
- Finding someone to talk to. Yes, you do get introduced like everyone else but people drift in and detecting them is almost impossible.
- Finding the next person to talk to. So, you finish talking to one woman but how do you identify the next one? The objective is to meet as many new people as possible. People cluster into groups so yes, you can look for chattering groups but many participants sit in a quiet corner so no audio. Yes, you can ask the organizer but the organizer does not know who all you have spoken too.
- Irrespective of disability, people complain that they did not meet everyone.
The Footloose solution is elegant. The women are seated while the men get five minutes with each woman. They move from person-to-person. There is a whistle after every 5 minutes. Once everyone has met everyone else, the event returns to its original unstructured format. You talk to everyone, get a chance to exchange contact information if desired and then are free.
Tips
- Exchange contact information in the fourth minute of the interaction else you will have to scramble to enter it once the whistle has blown. You do not want to keep your fellow men waiting.
- Stay relaxed. Do not look at your watch. Time keeping is the organizer’s responsibility.
Handling erroneous data in foursquare while using blindsquare
I use a combination of blindsquare and Google maps and or Navigon for navigation. My work flow is to search for a place in blindsquare and then launch Google Maps and or Navigon for routing. The trouble is that there have been times when I have not found a place on blindsquare or the place has been wrongly marked. This is not blindsquare’s fault because it uses foursquare. Yes I know, croud sourced navigation but it works well in most cases. The operative word is most. My last experience converted a 20 minute journey to a 2 hour ordeal because of an error on foursquare. I wrote to blindsquare support and asked for help.
The following solution has been given by Mr.. Ilkka Pirttimaa