Workshop on
Computer Vision Applications
for the Visually Impaired (CVAVI 08)

Marseille, France, Oct. 18, 2008

A Satellite Workshop of ECCV 2008

Keynote Speakers

TBD 

Workshop Goals

A growing number of computer vision researchers are becoming interested in applications for persons with visual impairments (VI), including low vision and blindness. Recent advances in algorithms, sensors and embedded computing hold the promise to enable computer vision technology that can address the needs of this disadvantaged population. Developing assistive tools for the VI community requires informed knowledge of several relevant human factor and technological issues:

1. The actual problems impairing the daily quality of life of these users;
2. An awareness of existing assistive aids;
3. A realistic understanding of the possibilities offered by the available interfaces (visual, audio, tactile);
4. A system-level approach to the design of algorithms and hardware that takes into consideration practical factors such as size, speed and cost.

This workshop aims to bring together computer vision researchers and experts in VI rehabilitation and assistive technology. Attendance by VI experts outside the computer vision community will also be encouraged. By addressing the context in which assistive technology is used and designed, the workshop seeks to help researchers identify fruitful areas of overlap between the most pressing needs of the VI population and the capabilities of computer vision technology.  A general discussion session at the end of the workshop will facilitate the exchange of ideas between computer vision researchers and VI experts.

A previous version of this workshop under the same title took place in 2005 as a satellite workshop of the IEEE CVPR conference. The proposed workshop is thus the second in this series. We believe that advances in technology and applications (e.g. the increasingly powerful and ubiquitous mobile/cell phone platform), as well as increased interest in the computer vision community for the area of assistive technology, will make the proposed workshop a venue for exciting and novel ideas and discussions.

Paper submissions are solicited on the application of computer vision to such topics as travel (orientation and mobility), information access (reading signs, documents and printed graphical information), and user interfaces.

Appropriate topics for papers submitted to this workshop must have clear relevance to the specific needs of VI users. Each paper submitted must discuss how the proposed computer vision algorithms could be implemented in a realistic system for VI users. Special consideration will be given to papers that include experimental results of tests with VI subjects.

Paper topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Travel and wayfinding
   • Orientation: indoor travel, walking on sidewalks and at traffic intersections, transit access, driving for people with poor vision
   • Mobility: detection of dangerous obstacles and moving hazards
2. Information access
   • Reading: indoor/outdoor signs and traffic signal lights in cluttered environments, finding relevant information in complex documents, computer/web access, consumer electronics displays
   • Access to graphical information: interpreting printed maps, drawings, graphics such as plots and pie charts
3. Identifying people and objects
   • Low vision user application: Recognizing people at a distance
   • Blind user applications: Identifying visitors and objects
4. Visual, audio and tactile interfaces
   • Image enhancement: improving image visibility for low vision users
   • Audification and sonification: extracting information from an image and communicating it by sound
   • Tactile/haptic interfaces
5. Special topics
   • Performance metrics
   • Retinal implants: signal processing
   • Hardware: portable computer platforms, mobile (cell) phones, high-quality portable cameras or other specialized hardware