VA Journal - 02/25/03

VFA Journal

02/25/03

Here is a young adventurer, one of our twin daughters, Brittany.

Here she is getting a sense of optical parallax. Her objective was to move the glass from one counter to the other and place the glass in the center of the plate.

The faded Army surplus bag she's carrying has the two power packs in it.

Brit has had the unit on for only a few minutes and seems to have become quite acclimatized to it's display properties.

The kitchen has all the lights off except for one 20watt fluorescent above the sink. Through the V V Sport the whole room appears to be very well lit.

So much so that all three of us commented on it.

This is Brittany's mono-zygotic counterpart, Stephanie. As twins the only thing that could make them more dissimilar would be if one was a boy.

Steph, like her twin, navigated the entire main floor and tried as many experiences as possible.

The first steps are literally halted and unsure, and it seems a natural instinct to extend your dominant hand and locate it in your field of view for reference.

Also like her sister Stephanie had a chance to experience augmented motor control by locating a container on the counter and placing it on a shelf.

This was successfully done, though not without a bit of trial and error. Notice that she has her left hand (her dominant) placed on the shelf as a reference

Here I am triumphantly returning after a full hour of un-interrupted Mediated Reality. Again, I went into every room on both floors, all at varying light levels.

Who ever said blind or low vision individuals are more concerned about their personal appearance, has to see this picture... I must really like that jacket as I wear it chronically at home.

Of the many things I experienced I felt that I'd never be able to remember it all, so I opted to begin to take notes as things occurred to me. Not wanting to disrupt the acclimatization, I found that I could in fact make notes and read my writing via the camera.

This session ran from 7:30PM to 8:30PM.

Observations - from notes

I can write notes and read them, though the amount of light that falls on the page has to be moderate.

Level Planes appear to be normal though the act of look at ones own feet creates the illusion that they are far behind you by 12 to 18 inches.

Stairs look flat on an upward climb, but are near cliff like on descent.

I can read my digital wrist watch as easily as per usual.

Approximately double the field of view per usual, I tested this against a set of French doors that lead from the kitchen to the front deck. At a distance of approx 5ft, I could clearly see both doors and all panels of glass, where from the same point in normal view I can see approx an edge and two glass panels of one door.

I was able to re-heat a cup of tea in the Microwave and read the controls and display with ease.

Objects that move fast like dogs and cats appear clearly during motion, but a fast head movement creates a slight blurring effect.

The Camera displays a minor amount of snow or pixellation in near absolutely no light levels.

Normal text can be read, though with a slightly above average effort.

In closing I now think that I've taken the existing camera as far as possible, this weekend I'll wrap-up with some outdoor activities while plugged in. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can settle on a colour high Resolution low-lux unit with an assortment of lenses.

This entire experience is totally surreal, especially the post usage period, where I find that I'm pumped like I've just come back from outer space.

Comments or Suggestions

mailto:frnkgmbk@renfrew.net

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