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The National Centre for Research and Development

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Toucan Eye

Toucan Eye. Artificial intelligence to serve people with visual disabilities

We would like the toucan eye system to reach the highest number possible of around half a million visually impaired people in Poland, assisting them in their everyday lives.

square with tentacles  Project title

Artificial intelligence system supporting people with visual dysfunctions - Toucan Eye

outline of the upper man silhouette  Name of Beneficiary/Beneficiaries

Toucan Systems Sp. z o.o.

briefcase icon  Name of programme

SMART GROWTH OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME

newspaper icon  Competition

Fast Track 

two heaps of coins icon  Project value

PLN 5,274,366.42

hand icon with two circles above it  Funding value

PLN 3,941,205.96

clock icon  Project delivery period

01 March 2017  - 31 October 2019

Meet our team

A team of ten smiling men and women standing in the office
Toucan Eye is the first R&D project of our team

View the results of our work

Small size, black device Toucan Eye
We would like the toucan eye system to reach the highest number possible of around half a million visually impaired people in Poland, assisting them in their everyday lives.

 

Man with glasses and Toucan Eye by his ear
The solution must cope with the changeable image quality, depending on the light intensity.

 

What problem is addressed by the project? 

Toucan Eye is our first project - a tool that uses artificial intelligence to support people with visual disabilities in their everyday lives. 


The device is a camera resembling a small Bluetooth earpiece, connected wirelessly with a smartphone-sized computer carried in a pocket.  The visually-impaired user no longer has to ask people, for instance at the bus stop, about the approaching bus or tram - Toucan Eye will tell them.
As is usually the case, inspiration was drawn from life itself. The history of Toucan Systems is associated with exhibitions in museums - we have prepared a number of interactive exhibitions, including multimedia displayed on screens.  We are combining arts, technology and engineering. We have often come across the issue of content presented at exhibitions or museums being unavailable to people with disabilities, including the visually impaired.  The natural step for us was to participate in NCBR's call for proposals as part of the “Fast Track” in order to create our own R&D centre making use of the technology in which we were quite well-versed in order to help people with such dysfunctions.

Who uses the project results? 

We would like the Toucan Eye system to reach the highest number possible of around half a million visually impaired people in Poland, assisting them in their everyday lives. Recently we carried out field tests with visually impaired people, and the results were great. Toucan Eye works in practice, and for people with visual disabilities it is an actual, crucial support.
We actually don't have any competition in Poland. There is one similar solution in the world, developed by OrCam Technologies (MyEye), but it's relatively expensive. We will try to introduce Toucan Eye to the market ourselves. The efficient operation of prototype devices fills us with optimism, so we are planning mass production. What we need is a serious investor.

What was the greatest challenge during project implementation?

There are many problems of blind and visually impaired people that we are unable to imagine.  The origin of Toucan Eye is also quite interesting. Before we started any work, we made an appointment with the Polish Union of the Blind.  We presented the concept of the system and thanks to talking to potential users we knew exactly from the very start what they need and what to focus on - this way we were able to understand their perspective.  Thanks to these consultations we modified our original assumptions.  A huge challenge we had to face during the works on Toucan Eye was to develop an algorithm that could identify various notices and symbols in different conditions. The solution must cope with the changeable image quality, which is strictly dependent on the light intensity. Another challenge was to develop appropriate mechanisms able to correctly read the wide range of fonts used in the public sphere.

Our advice for other applicants

As regards cooperation with the National Centre for Research and Development it is crucial to maintain certain standards in project management and administration, including settlement of procurement, salaries, record-keeping and preparation of reports. The applicants must be aware of the fact that precision and accuracy are vital. Of course, we received great support from NCBR staff, and it is something worth stressing.
I have one more advice for companies applying for support from NCBR. It is worth considering whether our competences cannot serve as a key to a whole new area of activity. We often do not see the opportunities that are close, closer than we think. In our case, European Funds granted by the NCBR from the Smart Growth Operational Programme facilitated the establishment of a genuine R&D department. While working on our first project, we established a team developing further undertakings related to Artificial Intelligence with a view to solving social problems. We have recently been working on an AI system supporting elderly persons and helping them to lead a more active life. In general, co-financing from NCBR is always a huge opportunity. We are seizing it and we are encouraging others to do so.

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