Eesti Tech: Is a revolution for the visually impaired brewing in Estonia?
'Cheese' is what the English-speaking world says when getting a photograph clicked. We Indians have come up with our own 'Paneer' for similar situations. In Estonia, it's 'Eesti' – the country's name in Estonian. Estonians are of course very proud of their achievements since they regained their independence from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991. It is well integrated with EU and Nato, has a high quality of living, invests around 6% of its GDP on education, is ranked as the best performing European nation in the global PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) evaluation for school learning, has more than 50% forest cover, and arguably the best quality of air and drinking water on the planet.
All of this, in turn, has led to the right environment for creativity and cool scientific innovation. Take for example the Estonian company 7Sense that is empowering the visually impaired with their wonderful tech innovation. Using telehaptic sight technology, the company has created a product that translates objects, motion, speed and distance onto the forehead of the visually impaired. The device, from the outside, looks like a hat or a headband. A turban, if you will, in the Indian context. But it contains hundreds of physical pixels that sense the surrounding environment and impart this information onto the person through the sense of touch. In other words, the company's tech has reinvented sight by developing a remote sense of touch.
The devices – SuperBrain 1 and SuperBrain Lite – have been found to be extremely intuitive by the visually impaired. And with a short amount of training and adjustment can easily have them experience a level of safety and freedom unimaginable till now. The company says most users can even play catch with a ball using the devices. If true, it opens up a limitless array of possibilities, especially in sports. The first thought that comes to mind is the application of the device in cricket for the visually impaired. Blind cricket, as it is played today, involves a slightly larger ball filled with ball bearings to provide audible cues. The bowlers bowl underarm and the batsmen essentially deploy the sweep shot from a low horizontal angle.
If 7Sense can bring their telehaptic technology to blind cricket where every visually impaired cricketer will be equipped with their SuperBrain device, it could potentially revolutionise the game. Visually impaired batsmen could essentially bat like their sighted counterparts, deploying the entire range of shots and motions, and visually impaired bowlers may even be able to bowl overarm. This will be a huge transformation.
Of course, the application can also have transformational impact in other areas of everyday life and workspaces. The visually impaired in India continue to face multiple hurdles. Around 18.6% of India's 26.8 million disabled population are visually impaired. And around 60.4% of the disabled population are either unemployed or marginally employed. Therefore, much can be done to empower those with disabilities, including the visually impaired. Estonia may have a revolutionary tech-based solution. And demonstrating this through blind cricket may be a good start. BCCI, which has always supported important social causes, may want to look into this. As the leader of the cricketing world, it is only fair BCCI takes the lead in transforming the game. And Estonian technology could be that magic sauce that takes blind cricket to a whole new level. That again would be really cool. Say 'Eesti!'
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