Tomsk Students Develop App to Assist the Visually Impaired
RIW Internet Without Restrictions is a web app that offers access to information that conventional screen reading programs are unable to process
Apr 09, 2014
Three sophomores at Tomsk State University’s Faculty of Physical Engineering, Yevgeny Sydnev, Artyom Pomiluyko and Stanislav Rychagov, have developed software to improve the online experience of the visually impaired, according to the TSU press service.
"RIW is a cloud application for people with limited vision who suffer from color blindness, damaged lenses, partial loss of vision or blindness," said Sydnev of Sapunity, the company the three classmates formed to market their new product. "Most visually impaired people now use screen-reading software to access information on the Internet but many elements found on websites are not recognized by such programs. This includes flash content, dynamic windows, drop-down menus and more. Our app solves these problems and is able to provide users access to all of the information a web page contains."
Sydnev, Rychagov and Pomiluyko have developed a novel way to "pull" information from the hard elements of a website so that a screen reader is then able to read the content aloud to a user. The structure of the web page remains unchanged and there is no requirement to install any software. The app runs as part of any standard web browser. The trio also has plans to develop standalone versions to be incorporated into client applications for desktop computers, tablets and smartphones.
The project was developed at the Druzhba residential intercollegiate business incubator and the inventors are currently seeking investment to bring the project to market. RIW Internet Without Restrictions competed successfully in the third stage of the Russian Startup Tour in the Tomsk region in late February.
As a result of the presentation, the project caught the attention of Russia’s Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and was automatically entered in competition for Russia’s Zworykin Award and the chance to win 1 million rubles ($28,451) in prize money. The trio also received a certificate for completing the first selection stage of the international 100 Innovators Group from the youth program of the Open Innovation Forum. They also received an offer of financial support from EMC, a leading provider of IT services and solutions for information management and storage.
A free beta version of the app is due to be launched online in the coming months.
"RIW is a cloud application for people with limited vision who suffer from color blindness, damaged lenses, partial loss of vision or blindness," said Sydnev of Sapunity, the company the three classmates formed to market their new product. "Most visually impaired people now use screen-reading software to access information on the Internet but many elements found on websites are not recognized by such programs. This includes flash content, dynamic windows, drop-down menus and more. Our app solves these problems and is able to provide users access to all of the information a web page contains."
Sydnev, Rychagov and Pomiluyko have developed a novel way to "pull" information from the hard elements of a website so that a screen reader is then able to read the content aloud to a user. The structure of the web page remains unchanged and there is no requirement to install any software. The app runs as part of any standard web browser. The trio also has plans to develop standalone versions to be incorporated into client applications for desktop computers, tablets and smartphones.
The project was developed at the Druzhba residential intercollegiate business incubator and the inventors are currently seeking investment to bring the project to market. RIW Internet Without Restrictions competed successfully in the third stage of the Russian Startup Tour in the Tomsk region in late February.
As a result of the presentation, the project caught the attention of Russia’s Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and was automatically entered in competition for Russia’s Zworykin Award and the chance to win 1 million rubles ($28,451) in prize money. The trio also received a certificate for completing the first selection stage of the international 100 Innovators Group from the youth program of the Open Innovation Forum. They also received an offer of financial support from EMC, a leading provider of IT services and solutions for information management and storage.
A free beta version of the app is due to be launched online in the coming months.