'Smart glasses' may be the newest aid for the visually impaired

A team of researchers have developed glasses that can detect light and shapes

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These bionic glasses may be the key to helping the visually impaired. Photo: Assisted Vision

Published: 7:15pm, 8 Nov 2013Updated: 7:30pm, 8 Nov 2013

A pair of bionic glasses may soon be able to help people with impaired vision see again and become more independent, British researchers say.

With the help of technology found in smartphones and game consoles, researchers at Oxford University are in the process of developing a pair of “smart” glasses that detect objects and display them on lenses.

Their work has recently garnered the 2013 Brian Mercer Award for Innovation from the Royal Society, which will help fund the research.

The glasses, which resemble regular spectacles, have two small cameras mounted into the frame and a translucent display that shows an overlay of the environment. The display is generated by a small processor located in the glasses.

Video: British researchers invent 'smart glasses' to help the visually impaired

“What the user actually sees is a slightly reduced version of the world that we normally see,” researcher and award winner Dr Stephen Hicks explained in a video for the Royal Society. "Rather than showing colour and textures and great distances, we are really only showing the nearby things."

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