In.sight

In.Sight mission is centered on the development of augmented reality systems being low cost, wearable  and less intrusive on the environment. In particular, Arianna is an innovative navigation system designed to guide visually impaired people in public spaces and increase their autonomy and independence. Social inclusion of blind greatly improves by enhancing  their mobility and autonomous life, factors that are a basis for their active involvement in the society.

Arianna uses commercial smartphones to provide high precision localization services against a simple and cheap infrastructure composed of colored paths painted or stuck on the floor (much cheaper than tactile pavements). Through special vibrational signals the user receives feedback for correcting his/her direction. Landmarks can be deployed along the path for coding additional information. Arianna fits into the market of pedestrian navigation, which according to all analysts is booming, with an annual increase rate of about 50% until 2020. Despite the interest of several big players in this market, there is a lack of attention to users with visual impairments. Arianna is aimed at this group of users, excluded from mass products, through the presence in public places (such as hospitals, airports, stations, museums) where accessibility for blind people is more important. With Arianna, the idea is to make these places “smarter”, allowing a better quality of life for visually impaired all-over the world.