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Researcher makes obstacle detector for blind people in Vietnam

Researcher makes obstacle detector for blind people in Vietnam

Thursday, April 24, 2014, 20:15 GMT+7

An electronic obstacle detector a Vietnamese researcher has made to help guide over one million blind people in Vietnam may not be state-of-the-art in terms of technology but it should be considered an exceptional creation in respect of the poor researcher’s desire to contribute to the community. 

The research work to create that device was carried out by Nguyen Ba Hai, who holds a doctoral degree, and his aides from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, with generous support from Nguyen Huu Qui, director of Kien Binh Minh, a Vietnamese technology and trading company.

Although Hai and his wife stayed in a rented house when he was playing the role of the chief researcher of the project at the school, he refused to sell his research when someone offered him VND2.3 billion (US$111,000) for it.

That amount was enough for the man, who is a lecturer at the university now, to buy a comfortable house then.

Glasses for the blind

When it was first developed in March 2012, the electronic obstacle detector was in a shape as big as a helmet worn over the head.

Already upgraded for nine times, the tool now looks like a pair of normal sunglasses that can notify the wearer of an obstacle from a certain distance thanks to vibrations transmitted from a piece of equipment put in a bag to the glasses via wires.

A manufacturer once contacted Hai to buy the technology to mass-produce the glasses for sale in the market, but the researcher shook his head and presented it for free to Kien Binh Minh for mass production instead, Qui recalled.

Hai turned the manufacturer down and ‘donated’ his ‘brainchild’ to the Vietnamese firm as he simply wished to keep the price of each pair of glasses as low as possible to help the visually impaired people.

Vietnam now has around 1.2 million blind people, according to statistics.

Now, the device is sold in the market at two rates, VND2.2 million ($106) and VND3.5 million ($168) each.

“The production of the glasses by Kien Binh Minh is totally non-profitable. We have received much support from philanthropists across the nation who want to give help to the visually impaired,” director Qui said.

It can be said that the glasses manifest the love and concern of the community in general and of Hai, his teammates, and Qui in particular, towards the underprivileged in the country.

On putting forwarding his idea to create cheap obstacle detectors for the blind, Hai was immediately encouraged and supported by his colleagues and leaders of the university.

Dr. Do Van Dung, the university’s president, said, “The school always encourages and creates favorable conditions for our researchers to study and create good products to serve the community.”

“The laboratory Hai is working in now at our university is equipped with modern devices which are even better than the ones he used when he was studying in the Republic of Korea,” Dr. Dung added.

In addition, it is like a destiny when Hai had a chance to meet and work with director Qui of Kien Binh Minh.

Qui felt great sympathy and provided firm support for Hai when the latter was trying to develop the prototype of the device, as the director’s mother was blind.

“My mother was once blind. I tried closing my eyes to imagine the world and the life of the blind,” Qui said. “Then I knew that I had to support Hai’s research project to at least help the blind become less passive in their life.”

Hai said that he once intended to give up because of repeated failures. “But I did not allow myself to surrender then, especially on seeing my colleagues often drop into my rented house, inquired after my family and my research, and gave me some food like salted vegetables,” he said.

“It made me more confident and drove me to do my utmost and keep going. I hope blind people will feel more comfortable in their life with this tool,” he added.

Thanks, the ‘genie eyes’!

Duong Thi Thanh Loan, a visually impaired woman in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc District, has used the made-in-Vietnam obstacle detector from the first to the latest versions.

“I have to wear a heavy bag containing the detecting equipment on my back. But thanks to it, I no longer fall to the ground or even under trucks parked along the road for wrong steps.”

Loan said that she had got bruises on her forehead and fallen on the street many times because she could only grope her way on the ground with her stick but failed to find out obstacles in the air in front of her, such as a tree branch, a roof, or even a tractor trailer parked along the roadside.

Do Nguyen Anh Thu, a student at Nguyen Dinh Chieu School for the blind in the southern city, said that she thanked the ‘genie eyes’ so much because they have enabled her to play in the school yard more comfortably.

Le Minh Tan, a student at the HCMC University of Education, said the glasses have assisted him a lot in navigating his way in daily life without him relying too much on his friends. 

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