Can you give us a brief description of the project you funded?
“Our project aims to create an urban mobility assistance system for blind or visually impaired people. Since 2018, our R&D team at SII Canada has been developing various projects, particularly in artificial intelligence and obstacle detection. We decided to focus on developing a real-time obstacle recognition algorithm based on videos, to offer a safer and smoother travel experience for people with disabilities.”
How did the project come about?
“The idea was born during a collaboration with the ALTERGO association. During a brainstorming workshop, where each of us had to come up with solutions to social problems, one of our employees put forward the idea of a mobility aid system for blind and partially-sighted people. It was an eye-opening moment for all of us, making us more aware of the challenges faced by people with disabilities on a daily basis. Armed with our knowledge of artificial intelligence and obstacle avoidance, we decided to develop this project.
If you could sum up PROMPT’s support or benefits in a single sentence or quotation?
“PROMPT was an invaluable ally in putting us in touch with strategic partners such as CRIM, helping us to strengthen our application for funding from the Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie du Québec (MEIE). Their help in drafting the competency file was also essential in presenting our project in a complete and convincing manner”.
What are the next steps in the development of this project?
“We are currently in the data collection phase, a crucial step in the development of our obstacle detection algorithm. Working in close collaboration with CRIM, we have undertaken a series of shots in Montreal, aimed at capturing a variety of obstacles and situations encountered in a typical urban environment. Once this phase is complete, we plan to integrate the algorithm developed in collaboration with CRIM into our system, to create a working prototype. This prototype will then be tested with users, enabling us to fine-tune and improve our solution before its final deployment”.
Maxime Reynaud, Project Manager and R&D Director, SII Canada
