Full Transcript
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson, and welcome to our CSUN coverage sponsored by Be My Eyes.
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Jeff Thompson:
Stay tuned for all our podcasts coming out of CSUN, #CSUNATC19. Enable the Blind Abilities skill on your Amazon device just by saying, “Enable Blind Abilities.”
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. As part of the CSUN coverage, I’d like to welcome from OrCam, Dr. Bryan Wolynski. He’s an optometrist from New York City. How are you doing?
Bryan Wolynski:
Doing great.
Jeff Thompson:
Getting ready to head out to CSUN.
Bryan Wolynski:
Getting all ready and excited. It’s a great event each year to go to.
Jeff Thompson:
And OrCam has a big presence there. You got a booth, and you got a special guest. You got all sorts of stuff planned for CSUN.
Bryan Wolynski:
Yes, we do. Our special guest is going to be Dan Parker, which is great. He is showing up with his motorcycle, which will be on display at the OrCam booth. If anyone doesn’t know, Dan Parker has the land speed record and world’s record for the fastest flying man in the world.
Jeff Thompson:
Yes. He did that at the Salt Flats, and we did a podcast with him. We’ll put a link to that in the show notes. That’s great to have Dan Parker out there with you as well.
Bryan Wolynski:
Yeah, it’s great. He’s a wonderful guy and looking forward to seeing him.
Jeff Thompson:
Bryan, can you tell us a little bit about your presentation you’ll be giving?
Bryan Wolynski:
Yes. So, I have a presentation who I’m actually doing along with another gentleman named Robin Spinks from England from the RNIB. And we’re going to do a talk together called OrCam MyEye in My Life, an Ordinary Day Versus an Extraordinary Day. My part is I’m going to be discussing the OrCam MyEye device as, basically, a clinician and how some of my patients are using it and how people are using it every day. And Robin, working for the RNIB, and himself who is visually impaired just talking personally about technology and how it’s in our everyday lives and helping him and others.
Jeff Thompson:
The other thing is, you’ve been on TV a couple times here in the past.
Bryan Wolynski:
Well, OrCam is a very revolutionary device. It is the world’s most advanced wearable artificial vision device designed for people who are blind, visually impaired, or reading difficulties. So, everyone’s very excited about it. It was featured on Dr. Phil and on Steve Harvey. And actually, Dan Parker was there with me talking about OrCam and how he uses it, and not only did he show everyone how he uses it in his daily life, but he also proposed to his girlfriend, and she said yes.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah, that was exciting. We’ll put a link to that video. I believe it’s on YouTube, but that was awesome, seeing OrCam on mainstream TV and showing everybody what OrCam can do for someone who is blind or visually impaired, or, like you just said, someone who has trouble reading the printed word. So, Bryan, let’s dig into some of the OrCam product line here. Let’s start with the OrCam MyEye.
Bryan Wolynski:
Yeah, the OrCam MyEye is a wearable device that the newest version is called the OrCam MyEye 2.0, which basically, if people know the original version, we basically cut the wire off. So now the device is about the size of your finger and weighs less than an ounce and attaches to most any eyeglasses. The device has a 13-megapixel camera with two little LED lights, takes a photograph, and then speaks the information it sees through a speaker next to your ear. It also can speak through Bluetooth headset or Bluetooth speakers as well. The information it gives, it does reading. It can read off of any surface. The device can tell color, tell product recognition, tell barcodes, facial recognition, as well as a tell time feature and money note.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, that’s great. I believe the OrCam, you just use a hand gesture where you put your hand in front and you point at whatever you want it to read.
Bryan Wolynski:
Correct, and it’s very simple. You just point at any text on the page, and it’ll read right back using the OCR feature, immediately, the text on the page. It can also be controlled not only by a pointing gesture but you can also use it by touching a touch pad on the side or it actually can do it automatically. Two weeks ago, OrCam came out with their app, which you can also use to control OrCam as well as control the settings.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, that’s great. So anyway, someone wants to control it, there’s something for everybody.
Bryan Wolynski:
Correct. Multiple ways.
Jeff Thompson:
Now, I tried those on one time, and I actually read something on a wall that was probably … I imagine it was 20, 30 feet away. But there was something on the wall, and it read that. And it also did facial recognition, once I logged the person in there, when they would come in front of my glass or … Back then it was the glasses. Now it’s the My Cam. It just said their name.
Bryan Wolynski:
Yeah. Correct. It takes about a 20-second procedure to put somebody into the system, and after you put them in the system and name them in the system, OrCam will just identify the person automatically when they walk in front of you. I’ve had it done about 10 feet in front of me, it can get somebody accurately.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, that’s great. Now, they can find this at OrCam.com. That’s O-R-C-A-M.com.
Bryan Wolynski:
Yeah. They can go to the website and find out more information.
Jeff Thompson:
Now you also have the MyReader.
Bryan Wolynski:
Correct. OrCam comes in two flavors. Basically, OrCam MyEye and OrCam MyReader. What the MyReader is, it just concentrates on the reading. So, it has the software only for reading only. And that’s for those individuals who didn’t really want all of the facial recognition, product recognition, and really only wanted it as a reader. Another thing about having that option of just the MyReader without all the other software is that it also can be used for people who have reading difficulties or reading disabilities, such as people with dyslexia. So, the company is really looking into that arena for the MyReader.
Jeff Thompson:
That’s great. So, if you want all the bells and whistles, you go for the MyEye. And if you just want the OCR or, for dyslexia, just for reading, then that’s where the MyReader comes into play.
Bryan Wolynski:
Correct. And then one good thing to mention about the MyEye version is that as new features also come out, while OrCam doesn’t need the internet or Wi-Fi to work, which is great because you can use it anywhere, it does connect to Wi-Fi to get any updates in the future. So, a new feature or maybe enhancing one of the current features, it can be pushed right through on your Wi-Fi.
Jeff Thompson:
It works all on its own, so if you’re in a warehouse or someplace shopping or something where the metal building doesn’t give you good data, you can still use the MyEye.
Bryan Wolynski:
Correct. OrCam MyEye can work anywhere, even the MyReader. It’s actually one of your co-hosts said something to me, Bryan Fischler, which I always use as an example. I’ve gotten very friendly with Bryan over the past few years, and I invited him last summer to come camping. And he said, “Camping? I’m not going camping. There’s no Wi-Fi.” He doesn’t want to be without the Wi-Fi. And I said, “Well, OrCam can be used anywhere without Wi-Fi.”
Jeff Thompson:
Well, camping to Bryan is when room service is 10 minutes late.
Bryan Wolynski:
Correct.
Jeff Thompson:
Remember, it’s OrCam.com. That’s O-R-C-A-M.com. Dr. Bryan Wolynski, thank you very much for taking the time out of your day and sharing with our listeners about OrCam. Thank you very much, Bryan.
Bryan Wolynski:
All right. Thank you.
Jeff Thompson:
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[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
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