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Aira Smart Glasses Use Live Agents To Help Blind Navigate

Kevan Worley demonstrates Aira technology NASHVILLE -- Kevan Worley of Worley Enterprises (Colorado Springs, CO), a blind vendor and past-president of the National Association of Blind Merchants, dazzled BLAST-goers by demonstrating a revolutionary technology called Aira that blind entrepreneurs can use in their vending businesses and in their personal lives to experience their surroundings like never before. Aira's remote assistive technology connects blind users with a network of live agents who...

November 16, 2017 by Emily Jed

Kevan Worley demonstrates Aira technology

NASHVILLE -- Kevan Worley of Worley Enterprises (Colorado Springs, CO), a blind vendor and past-president of the National Association of Blind Merchants, dazzled BLAST-goers by demonstrating a revolutionary technology called Aira that blind entrepreneurs can use in their vending businesses and in their personal lives to experience their surroundings like never before.

Aira's remote assistive technology connects blind users with a network of live agents who can see what the blind person "views" in real time. This is accomplished via smart glasses fitted with a tiny camera and paired with an app on the blind person's smartphone and an augmented-reality dashboard.

Users call a live agent with one tap of the app. The agent serves as a real-time visual interpreter to help users accomplish a wide range of daily tasks and activities -- from filling a vending machine or inventorying their products, to navigating busy streets and recognizing faces.
During BLAST's opening meeting, Worley called a live agent in front of the crowd to demonstrate the technology. The agent told him in exacting detail what he "saw" -- a ballroom packed with people, sitting at tables, and where the aisles and doors were located, down to the detail that the doors had push handles.

Aira is sold as a monthly subscription service. Worley was a participant in a beta test of the technology that began 18 months ago. The service was available for blind vendors to test throughout the conference.

"You can use it to fill your vending machines, find gates in airports, read your mail, order an Uber and have the agent tell you when he's there," Worley commented. "It's life-changing."