NEW DELHI: Techies at a development center of United States software giant Microsoft in the Eastern Indian city of Hyderabad have developed spectacles which could possibly help the blind navigate. The hi-tech glasses, named ‘Kinectacles' is among 60 innovations designed by techies in India and prototypes of which are show-cased by Microsoft at its ‘Garage Science Fair'. The techies have also given a thought to the speech-impaired. On display at the fair is a Kinect Bridge – a product that enables speech impaired people communicate seamlessly using the Kinect motion sensor of Microsoft. The sensor is also used in the software giant's Xbox gaming device. A team of three India techies – Atul Sharma, Aditi Goswami and Rishbah Verma – developed the ‘Kinectacles' prototype. The team hopes it will eventually succeed in designing the final product to help the blind navigate indoor as well as outdoor spaces. According to Rishbah Verma, who leads the team, the bare idea of the innovation involves a Kinect printed circuit board mounted with an audio device. Another team of five techies designed the Kinect Bridge prototype which involves the device recognizing hand and body gestures and converting them into voice or text. Another interesting device developed by techies is a phone software which can serve pregnant women as their ‘personal doctor' while on the move. ‘My Obstetrics', is a software of Windows 7 phone which can track the journey into motherhood and monitor weight and BP (blood pressure) constantly during the pregnancy. Through the ‘garage fair' Microsoft hopes to foster innovation among employees in their spare time and help them monetize the inventions. Microsoft Corporation's Matt Hempey said, this year's is the third edition of the ‘garage fair' in India. Hempey said almost 40,000 employees use the ‘garage fair' innovations.
