AI-Powered Glasses Developed in China to Assist the Visually Impaired

KATHMANDU — Artificial Intelligence (AI) glasses developed in China are showing new potential in making daily life easier for visually impaired individuals. Developed in the city of Hangzhou, these AI glasses have begun helping blind people identify paths, recognize obstacles, and reach their destinations.

Cai Qionghui from Hangzhou, East China, lost her sight at the age of seven. Currently, she works as a skilled piano tuner and even performs in an orchestra with other visually impaired musicians. However, she says that traveling alone remains a challenge.

According to her, most navigation software and assistive devices currently in use fail to provide accurate information once they get close to the final destination. "Most navigation software fails in the final 10 meters, causing me to lose my way many times and fail to find the destination," she said. "Visually impaired people want to go out, but they hesitate due to the fear of such situations."

To solve this problem, a technology company in Hangzhou developed special AI glasses for the visually impaired. The company stated that it spent over half a year collecting data to train the system to identify road crossings, stairs, and other potential hazards. According to the company, the system's response time has been reduced from 500 milliseconds to approximately 300 milliseconds, providing users with a safer experience.

According to Xu Dong, General Manager of Alibaba Cloud's Tongyi Qianwen large language model service, because large AI models can interact with the environment like humans, they can function as "eyes, ears, and a mouth" for visually impaired people, helping to improve their quality of life.

According to market research firm Omdia, China is on track to become the second-largest market for AI glasses after the United States. It is estimated that approximately 1.2 million units of AI glasses will be exported this year alone.