HKTDC Hong Kong Means Business

Hong Kong Means Business Hong Kong Means Business
  • Login / Register

Languages

  • EN
  • 繁
  • 简
SUBSCRIBE
  • EVENTS
  • MY FEED
  • CONTACT HKTDC
  • ABOUT HKTDC
  • hktdc.com

Section Menu

  • multimedia
  • market spotlight
  • first person
  • Venture Hong Kong
  • heads-up
  • inside china
  • life & style
  • hktdc research
  • Login / Register

Languages

  • EN
  • 繁
  • 简
SUBSCRIBE
Hong Kong Means Business

Section Menu

  • multimedia
  • market spotlight
  • first person
  • Venture Hong Kong
  • heads-up
  • inside china
  • life & style
  • hktdc research

https://hkmb.hktdc.com/en/1X0AJN5Y

market spotlight
SAVE FOR LATER
SHARE / SEND

"Scan QR Code" in WeChat and tap "..." to share.

Sound solution for the blind

Entrepreneurs from Israel have created a device that turns visual inputs into words.

14 January 2020

OrCam
The OrCam can read out aloud any text the user is looking at (photo: OrCam Technologies)

Blind or partially sighted people live in a world where such day-to-day tasks as reading text, recognising the faces of family and friends or picking out items on supermarket shelves can prove impossible.

But a tiny 22-gram camera that clips on to spectacles can do all these things, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The OrCam MyEye 2 device, from start-up nation Israel, lights up blind people’s world by telling them what they are looking at.

The device recently launched in Hong Kong as part of the firm’s push into Asia.

Audio vision

OrCam
The 22-gram camera and computer clips on to the user’s spectacle temple, right or left (photo: OrCam Technologies)

Liron Rosenbaum, Asia Director of Business Development at OrCam Technologies, said: “OrCam MyEye 2 communicates vital visual information by audio, using highly advanced machine learning and computer vision.”

Initially the OrCam simply read out any text that wearers were looking at. The latest version, OrCam MyEye 2, can also recognise faces so the wearer knows which family member or friend is approaching them. The device can also read barcodes and identify packaging, letting the wearer browse supermarket shelves unassisted. Independent living for blind and partially sighted people is one of OrCam’s goals.

Watch OrCam at work

OrCam Technologies was jointly founded by Israeli innovators Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram, who also co-founded Mobileye (now an Intel company), the collision avoidance system leader and autonomous driving innovator. Mr Rosenbaum said: “While OrCam was certainly inspired by Mobileye's breakthrough use of artificial vision, OrCam independently developed AI-driven algorithms and a device specifically for blind and visually people.”

As with any AI application, the more it is used, the better OrCam becomes.

“Initially, the original OrCam MyEye 2 machine-learning algorithms were ‘trained’ to enable it to perform text reading, facial recognition and other AI capabilities,” Mr Rosenbam said. “These were then tested on a regular basis by OrCam's quality assurance department in a wide variety of uses and environments. The feedback is subsequently sent to R&D (research and development) to make improvements and adjustments. Furthermore, some OrCam ‘power users’ authorise recording of their daily use of the device. This data is then analysed by R&D to enhance accuracy and performance.”

Opportunities in Asia

“OrCam has placed the Asian markets and Mainland China in particular as the target for the company's growth for the coming years,” Mr Rosenbaum said. “As such, OrCam has established a local entity in Shanghai through which we employ a local team that is managing the company's activities in the country.

“In addition to Mainland China, OrCam is in the progress of registering a company in Japan where we already have a local team. These actions are part of the company's expansion plan to Asia, and in order to position ourselves as a significant global company with outreach and presence in all continents.”

He said the company’s R&D takes place entirely in-house in Israel – in a department comprising 200 software and hardware engineers, algorithm developers and testers – but some of the components of the devices are manufactured in East Asian countries, and mainly in the mainland.

Entrepreneurial hub

Many commentators in Hong Kong are urging the city to encourage entrepreneurship and become a start-up hub, since innovative people, organisations and companies tend to cluster. The more there are, the more appear.

Mr Rosenberg confirms that this is very much true for both OrCam and Israel.

“Start-ups in Israel benefit from the positive hype that exists around the Israeli start-up nation and OrCam is no stranger to that. Moreover, many Israeli start-ups are focusing on technologies that aim to improve the lives of people or solve societal issues, so being part of this ecosystem allows companies of all sizes to benefit from the mission and success of each other,” he said.

“OrCam's advantage is that we come with a strong background from the success of Mobileye, which also puts a credibility mark on our technology and products.”

The optical world will focus on Hong Kong in November when the Hong Kong Trade Development Council hosts the HKTDC Hong Kong International Optical Fair. A plethora of electronic devices will be on display at the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) and concurrent HKTDC International ICT Expo in April.

Related link
OrCam

BACK TO TOP ^
CONTENT PROVIDED BY
    Topics:
  • Eyewear,
  • Health & Beauty,
  • Israel,
  • Hong Kong,
  • Middle East,
  • start-ups,
  • health,
  • MedTech
  • Eyewear
  • Health & Beauty
  • Israel
  • Hong Kong
  • Middle East
Home

Article Topics

ARTICLE TOPICS

EYEWEAR24658
HEALTH & BEAUTY24616
ISRAEL36086
HONG KONG36026
MIDDLE EAST36080

ARTICLE TOPICS

EYEWEAR24658
HEALTH & BEAUTY24616
ISRAEL36086
HONG KONG36026
MIDDLE EAST36080
START-UPS98715
HEALTH80159
MEDTECH141964

Innovation terms banner block

Social Share

FOLLOW US

GET WEEKLY UPDATES

newpaper-img

GET OUR WEEKLY EMAIL UPDATES

banner-img


I acknowledge that the above information may be used by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) for incorporation in all or any of its database for direct marketing or business matching purpose (and may therefore become available to the public within and/or outside of Hong Kong for use by them), and for any other purposes as stated in the Privacy Policy Statement; I confirm that I have the consent and the authority of each individual named in this form to release their personal data for the purposes stated herein.


*For non-EU/EEA customers, please skip this box which is solely for EU/EEA customers as required by the relevant data protection law in the EU.

THANK YOU

Thank you for registering.

interest_article

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

17 March 2021

Successful Pandemic E-Commerce: The UK

08 March 2021

Thai Consumer Preferences: Health, Beauty and Wellness

19 February 2021

Successful Pandemic E-Commerce: Russia

16 February 2021

Environmental Health Group Expects Continued Action by U.S. States to Address Toxic Chemicals

Related Events

RELATED EVENTS

28 April - 2 May 2021

HKTDC Lifestyle ShoppingFest 2021

12 - 13 August 2021

International Conference of the Modernization of Chinese Medicine & Health Products 2021

10 - 12 November 2021

HKTDC Hong Kong International Optical Fair 2021

13 - 16 April 2022

HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) 2022
FIND AN EVENT

User login

  • Create new account
  • Request new password

Footer Menu

  • hktdc.com
  • ABOUT HKTDC
  • MEDIA ROOM
  • TERMS OF USE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SITEMAP
  • 京ICP备09059244号

Footer Logo

Copyrights

Copyright © 2021 Hong Kong Trade Development Council. All rights reserved.

SHARE THIS STORY

EMAIL
LINKEDIN
WeChat
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
WHATSAPP

ID: HKTDCofficial

Don't have an account?

Create An Account

successfully added on your preferences.