The plan show smart for the blind, it will come in two variants. The gadget will later be equipped with a special 12-point marker that users can use to scan the time using their finger.

Professor Abhay Karandikan, director of IIT Kanpur, quoted by The Statesman as saying that the presence of smartwatches for the blind has paved the way for people with disabilities to experience the sophistication of technology. “We believe this smartwatch will have a huge social impact on people who are visually impaired and totally unable to see,” he said.

To help the visually impaired, the smartwatch uses haptiv technology. Haptic technology is the science of applying tactile sensations to human-computer interaction.

Haptic comes from the Greek word haptesthai which means “to touch”. Devices that use haptic technology involve physical contact between the computer and the user.

Users can input information into the computer and experience the computer’s reactions through sensations in the hands or other body parts.

The haptic sensory system allows the user to interact with the computer and receive feedback by applying opposing degrees of force to the user in the X, Y and Z axes so that they can be sensed human of touch. Meanwhile, there are now several haptic software that mainly use algorithmic design.

Good math and engineering skills as well as computer skills are needed to create devices capable of transmitting feedback. According to the engineers, the principle of haptic feedback is simple: a counter-clockwise movement of the hand pinches an object between the fingers which blocks the next movement.

(wsb)