A Danish team puts technology to good use and rolls out a volunteer project to help the blind see via an iOS app. The group of Danish software developers has designed a new iPhone application that aids individuals who are not able to see in different circumstances.  Dubbed Be My Eyes, the application links those who can see with visually impaired clients via a video chat. The new application exploits an iPhone gimmick called VoiceOver, which lets visually impaired individuals use the gadget through synthetic speech. The blind individual may get assistance from those who see for things like reading-through the expiry date on a container of milk or cross a road. For this, they basically need to press their screen to spot the first available sighted person. The helper will receive a demand on his cell phone in the form of a notification with a ringing tone. When a partner accepts the appeal, the visually impaired individual focuses his back cam at the item he needs help with and can get aid by video chat.

More than 30,000 assistants have joined in one single day to help around 1,145 blind individuals in this way, with around 2,000 occurrences of support given so far, reports the application’s site. This number continues developing as the more and more volunteers are eager to “give” their eyes.  All sighted assistants are signing up in the project as volunteers. This lets individuals who are totally blind use  the gadget  by means of an engineered speech and a touch-based  platform.  The app is available for free download for iPhone 4s or above, running iOS 7.

The application’s founder, Hans Jorgen Wiberg, who is blind himself, said he trusts that by helping one another as an online group, Be My Eyes will have an enormous effect on the ordinary lives of visually impaired individuals everywhere throughout the world. The concept for Be My Eyes was initially introduced at a startup occasion in Denmark in 2012; it took almost two years to become usable.

The app developed by Denmark-based organization Thermodo is said to have given a series of solutions to daily problems the blind face.

Sighted helpers stimulated to increase their active participation in the venture using a points system.  The assistants will receive points for every act of generosity and a “level up” framework.

Though the application is intended for iOS use alone, the Be My Eyes group says it is mindful of “a ton of potential clients with Android and Windows telephones worldwide.

Image Source: Trends Online