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TED, Chieko Asakawa: How new technology helps blind people explore the world

Chieko Asakawa: How new technology helps blind people explore the world

00:19You might think there are many things that I can't do because I cannot see.

That's largely true. Actually, I just needed to have a bit of help to come up to the stage.

00:31But there is also a lot that I can do.

This is me rock climbing for the first time. Actually, I love sports and I can play many sports, like swimming, skiing, skating, scuba diving, running and so on. But there is one limitation: somebody needs to help me. I want to be independent.

00:56I lost my sight at the age of 14 in a swimming pool accident.

I was an active, independent teenager, and suddenly I became blind. The hardest thing for me was losing my independence. Things that until then seemed simple became almost impossible to do alone. For example, one of my challenges was textbooks. Back then, there were no personal computers, no Internet, no smartphones. So I had to ask one of my two brothers to read me textbooks, and I had to create my own books in Braille. Can you imagine? Of course, my brothers were not happy about it, and later, I noticed they were not there whenever I needed them. (Laughter) I think they tried to stay away from me. I don't blame them. I really wanted to be freed from relying on someone. That became my strong desire to ignite innovation.

02:03Jump ahead to the mid-1980s.

I got to know cutting-edge technologies and I thought to myself, how come there is no computer technology to create books in Braille? These amazing technologies must be able to also help people with limitations like myself. That's the moment my innovation journey began.

02:29I started developing digital book technologies, such as a digital Braille editor, digital Braille dictionary and a digital Braille library network.

Today, every student who is visually impaired can read textbooks, by using personal computers and mobile devices, in Braille or in voice. This may not surprise you, since everyone now has digital books in their tablets in 2015. But Braille went digital many years before digital books, already in the late 1980s, almost 30 years ago. Strong and specific needs of the blind people made this opportunity to create digital books way back then. And this is actually not the first time this happened, because history shows us accessibility ignites innovation. The telephone was invented while developing a communication tool for hearing impaired people. Some keyboards were also invented to help people with disabilities.

03:47Now I'm going to give you another example from my own life.

In the '90s, people around me started talking about the Internet and web browsing. I remember the first time I went on the web. I was astonished. I could access newspapers at any time and every day. I could even search for any information by myself. I desperately wanted to help the blind people have access to the Internet, and I found ways to render the web into synthesized voice, which dramatically simplified the user interface.

04:27This led me to develop the Home Page Reader in 1997, first in Japanese and later, translated into 11 languages.

When I developed the Home Page Reader, I got many comments from users. One that I strongly remember said, "For me, the Internet is a small window to the world. " 04:54It was a revolutionary moment for the blind. The cyber world became accessible, and this technology that we created for the blind has many uses, way beyond what I imagined. It can help drivers listen to their emails or it can help you listen to a recipe while cooking.

05:17Today, I am more independent, but it is still not enough.

For example, when I approached the stage just now, I needed assistance. My goal is to come up here independently. And not just here. My goal is to be able to travel and do things that are simple to you.

05:41OK, now let me show you the latest technologies.

This is a smartphone app that we are working on.

05:49(Video) Electronic voice: 51 feet to the door, and keep straight.

05:56EV: Take the two doors to go out.

The door is on your right.

06:06EV: Nick is approaching.

Looks so happy. Chieko Asakawa: Hi, Nick!

06:09(Laughter) CA: Where are you going?

You look so happy.

06:13Nick: Oh -- well, my paper just got accepted.

CA: That's great! Congratulations.

06:16Nick: Thanks.

Wait -- how'd you know it was me, and that I look happy? (Chieko and Nick laugh)

06:21Man: Hi.

(Laughter) CA: Oh ... hi.

06:26EV: He is not talking to you, but on his phone.

06:35EV: Potato chips.

06:44EV: Dark chocolate with almonds.

06:47EV: You gained 5 pounds since yesterday; take apple instead of chocolate.

06:50(Laughter)

06:53EV: Approaching.

06:59EV: You arrived.

07:01CA: Now ...

07:03(Applause)

07:07Thank you.

07:08So now the app navigates me by analyzing beacon signals and smartphone sensors and permits me to move around indoor and outdoor environments all by myself.

But the computer vision part that showed who is approaching, in which mood -- we are still working on that part. And recognizing facial expressions is very important for me to be social.

07:38So now the fusions of technologies are ready to help me see the real world.

We call this cognitive assistance. It understands our surrounding world and whispers to me in voice or sends a vibration to my fingers. Cognitive assistance will augment missing or weakened abilities -- in other words, our five senses. This technology is only in an early stage, but eventually, I'll be able to find a classroom on campus, enjoy window shopping or find a nice restaurant while walking along a street. It will be amazing if I can find you on the street before you notice me. It will become my best buddy, and yours.

08:35So, this really is a great challenge.

It is a challenge that needs collaboration, which is why we are creating an open community to accelerate research activities. Just this morning, we announced the open-source fundamental technologies you just saw in the video.

08:57The frontier is the real world.

The blind community is exploring this technical frontier and the pathfinder. I hope to work with you to explore the new era, and the next time that I'm on this stage, through technology and innovation, I will be able to walk up here all by myself.

09:20Thank you so much.

09:21(Applause)

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Chieko Asakawa: How new technology helps blind people explore the world ||||||장애인|||| Chieko Asakawa|Asakawa|||||non vedenti|||| Chieko Asakawa: Wie neue Technologie blinden Menschen hilft, die Welt zu erkunden Chieko Asakawa: Πώς η νέα τεχνολογία βοηθά τους τυφλούς να εξερευνήσουν τον κόσμο Chieko Asakawa: cómo la nueva tecnología ayuda a los ciegos a explorar el mundo Chieko Asakawa : Comment une nouvelle technologie aide les aveugles à explorer le monde Chieko Asakawa: come la nuova tecnologia aiuta i non vedenti a esplorare il mondo 浅川智恵子:視覚障害者が世界を探検するための新しいテクノロジー Chieko Asakawa: Jak nowa technologia pomaga niewidomym odkrywać świat Chieko Asakawa: Como a nova tecnologia ajuda os invisuais a explorar o mundo Чиеко Асакава: Как новая технология помогает слепым людям познавать мир Chieko Asakawa: Yeni teknoloji görme engelli insanların dünyayı keşfetmesine nasıl yardımcı oluyor? Чієко Асакава: Як нові технології допомагають незрячим людям досліджувати світ 浅川千惠子:新技术如何帮助盲人探索世界 淺川千惠子:新科技如何幫助盲人探索世界

00:19You might think there are many things that I can't do because I cannot see. |potresti pensare||||||||||||| 00: 19Puedes pensar que hay muchas cosas que no puedo hacer porque no puedo ver.

That's largely true. |大部分地| هذا صحيح إلى حد كبير. Eso es en gran parte cierto. Actually, I just needed to have a bit of help to come up to the stage. |||需要||||一点|||||||| في الواقع ، كنت بحاجة فقط إلى القليل من المساعدة للصعود إلى المسرح. En realidad, solo necesitaba un poco de ayuda para subir al escenario.

00:31But there is also a lot that I can do. 00: 31 ولكن هناك أيضًا الكثير الذي يمكنني القيام به.

This is me rock climbing for the first time. |||岩石|攀岩|||| ||||arrampicata su roccia|||| هذا أنا أتسلق الصخور لأول مرة. Esta soy yo la escalada por primera vez. Actually, I love sports and I can play many sports, like swimming, skiing, skating, scuba diving, running and so on. |||运动||||||体育|||滑雪|滑冰|潜水||||| ||||||||||||||immersioni subacquee||||| في الواقع ، أنا أحب الرياضة ويمكنني ممارسة العديد من الرياضات ، مثل السباحة والتزلج والتزلج والغوص والجري وما إلى ذلك. But there is one limitation: somebody needs to help me. ||||限制|有人|需要||| ||||korlátozás||||| لكن هناك قيد واحد: شخص ما يحتاج إلى مساعدتي. I want to be independent. ||||独立的 اريد ان اكون مستقلا.

00:56I lost my sight at the age of 14 in a swimming pool accident. |||视力||||||||游泳池|事故 00: 56 فقدت بصري في سن 14 في حادث حمام سباحة. 00: 56 Perdí la vista a la edad de 14 años en un accidente en una piscina.

I was an active, independent teenager, and suddenly I became blind. |||活跃的|独立的|青少年||突然|||失明 كنت مراهقًا نشطًا ومستقلًا ، وفجأة أصبحت أعمى. The hardest thing for me was losing my independence. |最难的|||||||独立 أصعب شيء بالنسبة لي هو فقدان استقلاليتي. Things that until then seemed simple became almost impossible to do alone. ||||似乎|简单|||不可能||| الأشياء التي بدت حتى ذلك الحين بسيطة أصبح من المستحيل تقريبًا القيام بها بمفردها. For example, one of my challenges was textbooks. |||||挑战||教科书 على سبيل المثال ، كان أحد التحديات التي واجهتني هو الكتب المدرسية. Por ejemplo, uno de mis retos era libros de texto. Back then, there were no personal computers, no Internet, no smartphones. |||||个人电脑|个人电脑||互联网||智能手机 So I had to ask one of my two brothers to read me textbooks, and I had to create my own books in Braille. |||||||||兄弟||||教科书|||||||||| لذلك كان عليّ أن أطلب من أحد شقيقيّ أن يقرأ لي كتبًا مدرسية ، وكان عليّ إنشاء كتبي الخاصة بطريقة بريل. Can you imagine? ||想象一下 هل يمكنك أن تتخيل؟ Of course, my brothers were not happy about it, and later, I noticed they were not there whenever I needed them. ||||||||||||注意到|||||每当我需要他们的时候||需要| بالطبع ، لم يكن إخوتي سعداء بذلك ، وبعد ذلك ، لاحظت أنهم لم يكونوا موجودين كلما احتجت إليهم. Por supuesto, mis hermanos no estaban contentos con eso, y más tarde, noté que no estaban allí cuando los necesitaba. (Laughter) I think they tried to stay away from me. (ضحك) أعتقد أنهم حاولوا الابتعاد عني. (Risas) Creo que intentaron alejarse de mí. I don't blame them. ||责怪| أنا لا ألومهم. No los culpo. I really wanted to be freed from relying on someone. |||||解放|||| أردت حقًا التحرر من الاعتماد على شخص ما. Tenía muchas ganas de liberarme de confiar en alguien. That became my strong desire to ignite innovation. |||强烈愿望||||创新 ||||||feléleszteni| Ese se convirtió en mi fuerte deseo de encender la innovación.

02:03Jump ahead to the mid-1980s. |向前|||| 02: 03 قفز إلى منتصف الثمانينيات.

I got to know cutting-edge technologies and I thought to myself, how come there is no computer technology to create books in Braille? ||||||技术||||||||||||技术|||||盲文 |||||||||||||||||||||||Braille books تعرفت على أحدث التقنيات وفكرت في نفسي ، كيف لا توجد تقنية كمبيوتر لإنشاء كتب بطريقة برايل؟ Conocí las tecnologías de vanguardia y pensé: ¿cómo es posible que no haya tecnología informática para crear libros en Braille? These amazing technologies must be able to also help people with limitations like myself. |惊人的|技术|||||||||限制||像我这样的人 يجب أن تكون هذه التقنيات المدهشة قادرة أيضًا على مساعدة الأشخاص ذوي القيود مثلي. That's the moment my innovation journey began. ||时刻||创新|旅程| هذه هي اللحظة التي بدأت فيها رحلتي الابتكارية. Ese es el momento en que comenzó mi viaje de innovación.

02:29I started developing digital book technologies, such as a digital Braille editor, digital Braille dictionary and a digital Braille library network. ||||||||||||||字典||||盲文|数字图书馆|网络 02: 29 بدأت في تطوير تقنيات الكتب الرقمية ، مثل محرر برايل الرقمي وقاموس برايل الرقمي وشبكة مكتبة برايل الرقمية.

Today, every student who is visually impaired can read textbooks, by using personal computers and mobile devices, in Braille or in voice. |||||视觉上|视力受损|||教科书|||个人|计算机||||||||语音 |||||visivamente|ipovedente||||||||||||||| ||||||látássérült||||||||||||||| اليوم ، يمكن لكل طالب ضعيف البصر قراءة الكتب المدرسية ، باستخدام أجهزة الكمبيوتر الشخصية والأجهزة المحمولة ، بطريقة برايل أو بالصوت. This may not surprise you, since everyone now has digital books in their tablets in 2015. |||||||||数字化||||平板电脑| |||||||||||||tabletein| قد لا يفاجئك هذا ، لأن كل شخص لديه الآن كتب رقمية في أجهزته اللوحية في عام 2015. But Braille went digital many years before digital books, already in the late 1980s, almost 30 years ago. |盲文||数字的||||数字的||已经||||||| Strong and specific needs of the blind people made this opportunity to create digital books way back then. ||特定需求||||盲人||||机会|||数字化|||| Necesidades fuertes y específicas de las personas ciegas esta oportunidad de crear libros digitales en aquel entonces. And this is actually not the first time this happened, because history shows us accessibility ignites innovation. |||实际上||||||发生过|||||可达性|激发|创新 |||||||||||||||촉발한다| ||||||||||||||accessibilità|accende| ||||||||||||||hozzáférhetőség|serkenti| И на самом деле это не первый подобный случай, потому что история показывает, что доступность способствует развитию инноваций. The telephone was invented while developing a communication tool for hearing impaired people. |||发明||||交流工具|工具|||| Some keyboards were also invented to help people with disabilities. |键盘|||发明||||| |Alcune tastiere sono state inventate anche per aiutare le persone con disabilità.||||||||disabilità |billentyűzetek||||||||fogyatékossággal

03:47Now I'm going to give you another example from my own life.

In the '90s, people around me started talking about the Internet and web browsing. |||||||||||||浏览网页 En los años 90, las personas a mi alrededor comenzaron a hablar sobre Internet y la navegación web. I remember the first time I went on the web. I was astonished. ||惊讶的 ||Ero stupito. I could access newspapers at any time and every day. |||报纸|||||| I could even search for any information by myself. ||||||||我自己 I desperately wanted to help the blind people have access to the Internet, and I found ways to render the web into synthesized voice, which dramatically simplified the user interface. |迫切地|||||盲人|||访问|||互联网||||||||||合成的|声音||戏剧性地|简化了|||用户界面 |disperatamente|desideravo ardentemente||||||||||||||||convertire||||sintetizzata||||semplificato notevolmente||| ||||||||||||||||||||||szintetizált||||egyszerűsítette||| Quería desesperadamente ayudar a las personas ciegas a tener acceso a Internet, y encontré formas de convertir la web en voz sintetizada, lo que simplificó enormemente la interfaz del usuario.

04:27This led me to develop the Home Page Reader in 1997, first in Japanese and later, translated into 11 languages. ||||开发|||||||||||翻译的|| |||||||||||||||tradotto in||

When I developed the Home Page Reader, I got many comments from users. ||开发了||||||||评论||用户 One that I strongly remember said, "For me, the Internet is a small window to the world. |||强烈||||||||||||| " 04:54It was a revolutionary moment for the blind. ||||时刻|||盲人 The cyber world became accessible, and this technology that we created for the blind has many uses, way beyond what I imagined. |网络的|||可接触的|||技术||||||盲人||||||||我想象的 |cibernetico|||||||||||||||||||| |kiber|||||||||||||||||||| It can help drivers listen to their emails or it can help you listen to a recipe while cooking. |||司机|听到||||||||||||食谱|同时|烹饪

05:17Today, I am more independent, but it is still not enough. ||||独立||||||还不够

For example, when I approached the stage just now, I needed assistance. ||||接近||舞台||||需要|帮助 My goal is to come up here independently. |目标||||||独立地 And not just here. My goal is to be able to travel and do things that are simple to you. |||||||旅行||||||||

05:41OK, now let me show you the latest technologies.

This is a smartphone app that we are working on.

05:49(Video) Electronic voice: 51 feet to the door, and keep straight. 05:49 (Video) Voz electrónica: 51 pies a la puerta, y siga recto.

05:56EV: Take the two doors to go out. ||||门|||

The door is on your right.

06:06EV: Nick is approaching. 电动|尼克||接近 EV(1)|||

Looks so happy. Chieko Asakawa: Hi, Nick! Csieko|Asakawa||

06:09(Laughter) CA: Where are you going? |加州||||

You look so happy.

06:13Nick: Oh -- well, my paper just got accepted. ||||论文|||

CA: That's great! CA(1)|| Congratulations. 恭喜 Congratulazioni.

06:16Nick: Thanks.

Wait -- how'd you know it was me, and that I look happy? |你怎么知道|||||||||| (Chieko and Nick laugh)

06:21Man: Hi.

(Laughter) CA: Oh ... hi.

06:26EV: He is not talking to you, but on his phone.

06:35EV: Potato chips. ||薯片

06:44EV: Dark chocolate with almonds. ||巧克力||杏仁 ||||mandulával 06: 44EV: pure chocolade met amandelen.

06:47EV: You gained 5 pounds since yesterday; take apple instead of chocolate. ||增加了|||昨天|||||巧克力

06:50(Laughter)

06:53EV: Approaching.

06:59EV: You arrived.

07:01CA: Now ...

07:03(Applause)

07:07Thank you.

07:08So now the app navigates me by analyzing beacon signals and smartphone sensors and permits me to move around indoor and outdoor environments all by myself. ||||导航|||分析|||||传感器||允许|||||室内||户外|环境||| ||||irányít|||||||||||||||bent|||||| 07: 08Así que ahora la aplicación me navega analizando las señales de balizas y los sensores de los teléfonos inteligentes y me permite moverme por dentro y fuera de entornos, solo.

But the computer vision part that showed who is approaching, in which mood -- we are still working on that part. |||视觉|||显示的|||接近|||情绪||||||| And recognizing facial expressions is very important for me to be social. |识别|面部表情|表情||||||||社交的 ||arckifejezéseket|||||||||

07:38So now the fusions of technologies are ready to help me see the real world. |||融合||技术||||||||| |||fúziók||||||||||| 07: 38 Dus nu zijn de versmeltingen van technologieën klaar om me te helpen de echte wereld te zien.

We call this cognitive assistance. |||认知|帮助 We noemen dit cognitieve assistentie. It understands our surrounding world and whispers to me in voice or sends a vibration to my fingers. |理解||周围环境|||||||声音||发送||振动|||手指 Cognitive assistance will augment missing or weakened abilities -- in other words, our five senses. 认知的|辅助||增强|缺失的能力||减弱的|||||||感官 |||növelni|||||||||| La asistencia cognitiva aumentará las habilidades perdidas o debilitadas, en otras palabras, nuestros cinco sentidos. This technology is only in an early stage, but eventually, I'll be able to find a classroom on campus, enjoy window shopping or find a nice restaurant while walking along a street. |这项技术||||||阶段||最终|||||||||校园|||购物|||||餐厅|同时|||| ||||||||||||||||||campus||||||||||||| It will be amazing if I can find you on the street before you notice me. |||惊人|||||||||||注意| It will become my best buddy, and yours. |||||伙伴|| |||||barátom||

08:35So, this really is a great challenge. ||||||挑战

It is a challenge that needs collaboration, which is why we are creating an open community to accelerate research activities. ||||||合作||||||创建|||社区||加速||活动 Just this morning, we announced the open-source fundamental technologies you just saw in the video. ||||宣布了||||基础|技术||||||

08:57The frontier is the real world.

The blind community is exploring this technical frontier and the pathfinder. |盲人|盲人社区||探索||||||开拓者 ||||||||||ösvénykereső De blinde gemeenschap verkent deze technische grens en de padvinder. I hope to work with you to explore the new era, and the next time that I'm on this stage, through technology and innovation, I will be able to walk up here all by myself. |希望||||||探索||||||||||||舞台||技术||创新|||||||||||我自己

09:20Thank you so much.

09:21(Applause)