More autonomy for blind people thanks to satellite navigation
“When blind people take a taxi, they will be able to give directions to the taxi driver!” says Jose Luis Fernandez Coya. The man speaking really knows what he is talking about: he is blind but also heads the R&D department of ONCE, the National Organization of Spanish Blind people. This association has always been looking for helpful innovations and has just developed a system based on GPS to guide blind people. The system called “Tormes”, named after a famous Spanish 16th century story, is a computer with a Braille keyboard and satellite navigation technology that gives verbal directions. This personal navigator was presented to the press in Madrid recently. The European Space Agency (ESA) was involved in this event because ONCE and ESA are already working on how to improve “Tormes.”