For individuals with low or no vision, navigating the outside world can be an intimidating task. Street signs, maps, and other navigation tools that the full-sighted take for granted may not work for most individuals who struggle with vision. Imagine being alone in a bustling city, trying to get from point A to point B, and you only have about 30% vision. And on top of that, with current COVID-19 regulations in place, approaching strangers for directions would be problematic to say the least!
The app that we are looking at today was designed with these very problems in mind. Envision AI(new window) is a powerful visual recognition tool that scans text, objects, surroundings, and faces using a mix of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology. Users simply point their smartphone at whatever object or text they are interested in and the app will read or describe it aloud.
Documents are easy to scan and read, and an audio guided edge detection system helps give your document straight. Once the document is scanned, the contents of your document will be read aloud, and can then be exported and edited. Handwritten letters, lists, and barcodes can also be scanned, and the app supports over 60 languages. Envision AI can even detect faces, and whenever your friends or family come into frame, the app will speak their name aloud.
Scenes can also be described out loud using the app. For example, if I point my phone at my computer screen and press, “Describe scene”, the app will tell me that I am looking at a computer screen, or in my case, that I am looking at a desktop computer. It’s important to note that this feature depends on the complexity and closeness of the scene in question. Colors can also be detected and described out loud using this app, although, like with the scene description feature, the complexity and proximity of the colors in question play a big factor in the app’s ability to correctly detect a color.
Envision AI is free to purchase with a 14-day trial subscription included. Monthly or yearly subscriptions can be purchased in-app. Available for iOS or Android.
