Page 34 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition November-December 2021

AI-EQUIPPED BACKPACK FOR Academy of Medical Science

BLIND PEOPLE and Peking University, Beijing,
analysed data from almost half
a million Chinese adults in the
China Kadoorie Biobank.
A team of researchers The researchers questioned
at the University of the study participants on their
Georgia has created a cooking habits through a
unique backpack that survey form, then tracked for
is fitted with AI gear to hospital admissions of major
help blind people to walk eye diseases through linkage to
independently without Photo Credit : Intel health insurance records. Over
their canes or a guide the ten-year follow-up period,
dog to assist them. they found around 4,877 cases
of conjunctiva disorders, 13,408
The backpack holds a smart AI system running on a laptop, cataracts, 1,583 disorders of the
and is fitted with OAK-D cameras (which, in addition to providing sclera, cornea, iris and ciliary
obstacle information, can also provide depth information) hidden body (DSCIC), and 1,534 cases
in a vest and also in a waist pack. The cameras run Intel’s Movidius of glaucoma among study
VPU and are programmed using the OpenVINO toolkit. The waist participants.
pack also holds batteries for the system. The AI system was trained
to recognise objects a sighted pedestrian would see when walking The study results showed
around in a town or city, such as cars, bicycles, other pedestrians or that long-term use of solid fuels
for cooking was associated with
even overhanging tree limbs.
32%, 17%, and 35% higher risks
Furthermore, the system was also trained to recognise typical of conjunctiva, cataracts, and
terrain, such as sidewalks, grass, curbs and pavement—as well DSCIC, respectively, compared
as many road signs. It can read the words and convert them to with those who cooked using
messages for the user, it features a GPS device and a receiver clean fuels. Individuals who
connected to a microphone so that the user can speak to the switched from using solid to
system. The user can also receive spoken messages from the clean fuels for cooking had
system via a Bluetooth earpiece. smaller elevated risks (over
those who had always used
The backpack is a boon for blind people as they can venture out clean fuels) compared to those
into the real world confidently when wearing it. The wearer has who did not switch. People
a choice – they can listen to a stream of comments that describe who switched had 21%, 5% and
the immediate neighbourhood, and the system also responds to 21% higher risk for conjunctiva,
questions. In either case, the system alerts the user to obstacles cataracts, and DSCIC,
such as curbs, benches, potted plants and other people. It also respectively.
gives them advance warning of upcoming crosswalks, and because While explaining these
of the depth information data, can alert the user to impending findings Dr Peter Ka Hung
inclines and declines in the path ahead. Chan, research fellow in the
Nuffield Department of
COOKING WITH COAL OR WOOD Population Health, University of
Oxford, and lead author of the
LINKED TO EYE DISEASES study stated: “The increased
risks may be caused by
There is a clear link between cooking with wood or coal and exposure to high levels of fine
acquiring eye diseases that can lead to blindness. particulate matter (PM2.5) and
carbon monoxide, which can
In a new study, researchers from the University of Oxford’s damage the eye surface and
Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) and the Chinese cause inflammation.”

OPHTHALMIC NEWS
| NOV-DEC 2021 | 30 OPHTHALMIC NEWS