振動手套助盲者“看”世界

Vibrating gloves will soon replace the white cane to help blind people ‘see’ their surroundings.
不久的將來，振動手套將取代盲杖幫助盲人“看見”周圍的環境。

This is the prediction of a British team who has developed a prototype glove, dubbed SenSei, that provides vibration cues to a wearer.
英國一個團隊做出了上述預測。該團隊已經發明瞭振動手套的樣板，取名爲“SenSei ”，能通過振動給使用者提示。

The glove features a battery-operated ultrasonic senor on the back of the glove, which emits different levels of sound similar to a car’s parking sensor.
這種手套的背部安裝有電池驅動的超聲傳感器，會發出不同等級的聲音來提示使用者，類似汽車的泊車傳感器。

Ultrasound waves are sent out, hit the obstacle, and when they return to the glove, they vibrate the fingers.
傳感器會發出超聲波，遇到障礙物後再反射回手套，然後讓手指振動。

Different patterns and intensities let the user know how their distance between objects.
使用者可通過振動的不同模式及強度，來判斷與障礙物之間的距離。

The glove was designed by two students at Nottingham University who wanted to develop a gadget that could be used without much training.
這種振動手套由兩位諾丁漢大學（Nottingham University）的學生設計，他們想做一個可以輕鬆上手使用的小裝置。

‘At present, the attachment is quite large, but we are working on a new system containing a microprocessor that is smaller and not as heavy,’ Raivat Luthura, one of the designers told Julia Pierce at The Engineer.
目前，附加裝置還太大，但我們正在開發一個帶有微處理器的系統，比現在的更小且更輕。”振動手套的發明者之一，瑞瓦特•路瑟拉（Raivat Luthura）在工程師雜誌（The Engineer）的採訪中，對記者茱莉亞•皮爾斯（Julia Pierce）說道。

The design recently won £1,000 ($1,540) and first prize in the Entrepreneurship and Business Competition run by Nottingham University Business School.
這一設計近日獲得諾丁漢大學商學院“企業家精神及商業競爭”一等獎，獎金1000英鎊。

‘This will also make it more aesthetically pleasing. We’re going to use the money from the competition for further development of the device,’ Mr Luthura added.
“這種手套也將會變得更美觀。我們打算利用這筆獎金對手套進行提升與完善。”路瑟拉補充道。

It follows the launch of a similar device last year which helps people who are blind and visually impaired to learn Braille.
在振動手套之前，2014年曾出現一項類似產品，能幫助盲人或視覺受損的人學習盲文。

Vibrating motors at the knuckle of each finger in the gloves buzz to tell a wearer to press a corresponding key, and the system tells them which letter they are typing.
安裝在手套裏各個指關節的震動馬達會發出嗡嗡聲，提示使用者按下相應的鍵，系統同時發出相應字母的讀音。

And the gloves even teach the wearer when they are not paying attention.
當使用者注意力不集中時，手套也能進行教學。

‘The process is based on passive haptic learning (PHL),’ said Thad Starner, a Georgia Tech professor who is also the technical lead on Google’s Project Glass.
“這種程序基於消極觸覺學習（passive haptic learning ）。”喬治亞州的一位技術教授，薩德•斯塔勒（Thad Starner）說道。斯塔勒也是谷歌眼鏡的技術領導。

‘We’ve learned that people can acquire motor skills through vibrations without devoting active attention to their hands.
“我們已經意識到，人們不用刻意集中精力在手上，僅通過振動便可獲得運動技能。”

There has also been an increase in so-called ‘smart canes’ that use sonar to let blind people know, through vibrations, if there are objects ahead.
同樣地，“智能柺杖”也層出不窮，這種柺杖利用聲納裝置發出振動提示盲人前方的障礙。

Like the vibrating gloves, these SmartCane mimic the capabilities of bats, using sonar to detect objects in the surrounding environment.
與振動手套相似，智能柺杖模仿蝙蝠，通過聲納來探測周圍環境的物品。

Ultrasound waves are sent out and, when they return to the cane, they vibrate on the relevant side of to warn of an obstacle ahead.
柺杖發射出的超聲波，遇到障礙物後反射回柺杖，然後柺杖相應的一側便進行振動，以警告使用者前方有障礙。

According to the World Health Organisation, 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide.
據世界衛生組織（World Health Organization）的調查，世界範圍內估計有兩億八千五百萬人口視覺受損。

Almost 90 per cent of these live in developing countries, with India home to the most, at 12 million.
其中，近90%居住在發展中國家，而印度視覺受損人口最多，約有一千兩百萬。

Vocabulary
prototype：樣板
cue：提示
ultrasonic：超聲波
microprocessor：微處理器
Braille：布萊葉盲文
knuckle：指關節
sonar：聲納裝置