AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED: Augmenting the Experiential Reality Beyond Visual Cognition

This book embarks on an exciting journey to create an Augmented Reality Computing Interface for the Visually Impaired. This book showcases a way of haptically interacting with the computer system by creating a “virtual workstation”, facilitating a natural and intuitive way to accomplish a multitude of computer based tasks. The book also explores an evolutionary path from the old school CLIs (Command Line Interfaces) to the modern GUIs (Graphical User Interface) and all the way to this new age novel Haptic Augmented Reality Interface (HARI)The system utilizes a combination of a haptic glove device, a gesture based control system, and an Augmented Reality computer interface which creates an immersive interaction between the user and the computer. The gestures are recognized, and the user is provided with audio and vibratory haptic feedbacks. This user interface allows the user to actually “touch, feel and physically interact” with digital controls and virtual real estate of a computer system. The system acts as a bridge between the GUI and the blind users and is built with visual impairment in mind.