Glasses that deliver a sense of vision to people who are blind are among the finalists of this year’s Australian Technologies Competition (ATC). Now in its 13th year, the ATC demonstrates the talent, intelligence, and ingenuity that exists in Australia.

Judges selected 21 finalists from almost 100 entries, all of which have potential to “disrupt industries and better lives”. Each finalist will be given opportunities to connect with investors, mentors, and industry experts, with the goal of assisting them to scale and grow their ventures.

Aria Research, a Sydney-based deep-tech assistive technology company, co-founded by Robert Yearsley and Mark Harrison, was one of the finalists. Developed in collaboration with University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, Blind Citizens Australia, and World Access for the Blind Australia, with Australian federal government support, Aria has developed a non-invasive wearable device using artificial intelligence and machine vision to deliver sight through sound for blind people.

Taking the form of smartglasses with inbuilt cameras/sensors, speakers and processing, the device leverages and augments blind users’ natural abilities to identify and locate objects based on the sounds they make by virtually sonifying visible, but normally silent objects in their surroundings. It then creates a virtual 3D, real-time model of the users’ immediate environment, which is used to generate a lifesize, real-time audio information overlay to deliver an analog to the function of vision.

The ATC National Finals and Awards took place in Sydney on 28 September, prior to this issue going to print. Visit austechcomp. com to view award winners.