Coughlan Lab

The goal of our laboratory is to develop and test assistive technology for blind and visually impaired persons that is enabled by computer vision and other sensor technologies.

Tabs

Journal Articles

Ahmetovic, D., Manduchi, R., Coughlan, J., & Mascetti, S.. (2017). Mind your crossings: Mining GIS imagery for crosswalk localization. Acm Transactions On Accessible Computing (Taccess), 9(4). http://doi.org/10.1145/3046790

Tekin, E., Vásquez, D., & Coughlan, J.. (2013). S-K Smartphone Barcode Reader for the Blind. Journal On Technology And Persons With Disabilities, 1.

Coughlan, J., & Shen, H.. (2013). Crosswatch: a system for providing guidance to visually impaired travelers at traffic intersections. Journal Of Assistive Technologies, 7.

Manduchi, R., & Coughlan, J.. (2012). (Computer) vision without sight. Communications Of The Acm, 55, 96–104.

Shen, H., Coughlan, J., & Ivanchenko, V.. (2009). Figure-ground segmentation using factor graphs. Image And Vision Computing, 27, 854–863.

Coughlan, J., & Manduchi, R.. (2009). Functional assessment of a camera phone-based wayfinding system operated by blind and visually impaired users. International Journal On Artificial Intelligence Tools, 18, 379–397.

Shen, H., Chan, K. - Y., Coughlan, J., & Brabyn, J.. (2008). A mobile phone system to find crosswalks for visually impaired pedestrians. Technology And Disability, 20, 217–224.

Walker, L., Verghese, P., & Coughlan, J.. (2007). Where to look next? Eye movements reduce local uncertainty. Journal Of Vision, 7, 6.

Yuille, A. L., Coughlan, J., & Konishi, S.. (2003). The KGBR viewpoint-lighting ambiguity. Journal Of The Optical Society Of America (Josa) A, 20(1). (Original work published 2003)

Yuille, A. L., Coughlan, J., & Konishi, S.. (2001). The KGBR viewpoint-lighting ambiguity and its resolution by generic constraints. Computer Vision, 2001. Iccv 2001. Proceedings. Eighth Ieee International Conference On, 2, 376–382.

Conference Papers

Biggs, B., Coughlan, J., & Coppin, P.. (2019). Design and Evaluation of an Audio Game-Inspired Auditory Map Interface. In The 25th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD 2019). Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. (Original work published 2019)

Fusco, G., & Coughlan, J.. (2018). Indoor Localization using Computer Vision and Visual-Inertial Odometry. In International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP '18). Linz, Austria. (Original work published 2018)

Mascetti, S., Gerino, A., Bernareggi, C., D’Acquisto, S., Ducci, M., & Coughlan, J.. (2017). JustPoint: Identifying Colors with a Natural User Interface. In 19th Int’l ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2017). Baltimore, MD: ACM. (Original work published 2017)

Coughlan, J., & Miele, J.. (2017). Evaluating Author and User Experience for an Audio-Haptic System for Annotation of Physical Models. In 19th Int’l ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2017). Baltimore, MD: ACM. (Original work published 2017)

Coughlan, J., & Miele, J.. (2017). AR4VI: AR as an Accessibility Tool for People with Visual Impairments. In AR for Good, part of ISMAR 2017. Nantes, France: IEEE. (Original work published 2017)

Rituerto, A., Fusco, G., & Coughlan, J.. (2016). Towards a Sign-Based Indoor Navigation System for People with Visual Impairments. In 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. Reno, NV: ACM.

Fusco, G., Tekin, E., Giudice, N. A., & Coughlan, J.. (2015). Appliance Displays: Accessibility Challenges and Proposed Solutions. In 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. Lisbon, Portugal: ACM. http://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2700648.2811392 (Original work published 2015)

Ahmetovic, D., Manduchi, R., Coughlan, J., & Mascetti, S.. (2015). Zebra Crossing Spotter: Automatic Population of Spatial Databases for Increased Safety of Blind Travelers. In ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2015). http://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2700648.2811392

Fusco, G., & Morash, V. S.. (2015). The Tactile Graphics Helper: Providing Audio Clarification for Tactile Graphics Using Machine Vision. In ASSETS. (Original work published 2015)

Manduchi, R., & Coughlan, J.. (2014). The last meter: blind visual guidance to a target. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 3113–3122). ACM.

Presentations/Posters

Fusco, G., Tekin, E., & Coughlan, J.. (2016). An Appliance Display Reader for People with Visual Impairments.

Other Publications

Shen, H., & Coughlan, J.. (2012). Towards a real-time system for finding and reading signs for visually impaired users. In Computers Helping People with Special Needs (pp. 41–47). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Coughlan, J., & Editor: Tyler, C. W.. (2011). Mechanisms for propagating surface information in 3-D reconstruction. In Computer Vision: From Surfaces to 3D Objects. Chapman and Hall/CRC Press.

Tekin, E., & Coughlan, J.. (2012). BLaDE: Barcode localization and decoding engine.

Coughlan, J. (2012). Markov random fields and techniques for performing inference with them.

Coughlan, J. (2010). Maximum Entropy Distributions and Their Relationship to Maximum Likelihood.

Coughlan, J. (2009). A Tutorial Introduction to Belief Propagation.

Coughlan, J. (2009). Basic 3D Geometry for One and Two Cameras.

Coughlan, J. (1999). A Transparent Interpretation of the EM Algorithm.

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center

The Center's research goal is to develop and apply new scientific knowledge and practical, cost-effective devices to understand and address better the real-world problems of blind, visually impaire
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Video Description Research and Development Center

The Smith-Kettlewell Video Description Research and Development Center (VDRDC) investigates innovative technologies and techniques for making online video more accessible to blind and visually-impa
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A Computer Vision-Based Indoor Wayfinding Tool

We are creating a smartphone-based indoor navigation app to estimate the user's location in an indoor environment and guide him/her to a desired destination.

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BLaDE

BLaDE (Barcode Localization and Decoding Engine) is an Android smartphone app designed to enable a blind or visually impaired user find and read product barcodes.

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CamIO

CamIO (short for “Camera Input-Output”) is a system to make physical objects (such as documents, maps, devices and 3D models) accessible to blind and visually impaired persons, by providing real-ti

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Computer Vision Journal Club

The Computer Vision Journal Club meets periodically to discuss papers on topics in computer vision, machine learning and other topics of interest such as assistive technologies for persons who are

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Crosswatch

Crosswatch is a smartphone-based system developed for providing real-time guidance to blind and visually impaired travelers at traffic intersections.

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Display Reader

The goal of the Display Reader project is to develop a computer vision system that runs on smartphones and tablets to enable blind and visually impaired persons to read appliance displays.

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Regressions in Braille Reading

This project explores regressions (movements to re-read text) in braille reading.

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Sign Finder

This project seeks to develop a computer vision-based system that allows a visually impaired traveler to find and read informational signs, such as signs labeling office doors, streets, restrooms a

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Tactile Graphics Helper (TGH)

Tactile graphics use raised lines, textures, and elevations to provide individuals with visual impairments access to graphical materials through touch.

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Tutorials and Reference

These are tutorials and reference materials I have written on various topics in probability and geometry over the years.

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