Lantronix Contributes to eSight Design, Enabling Individuals With Serious Visual Impairment to See

Lantronix announced that its engineering services team supported eSight Corp. in the development of an enhanced vision device that enables individuals with serious visual impairment to see. eSight was recently recognized as a manufacturer of the Best Wearable/Healthcare Hardware/Software Consumer Technology of 2021 by the Tech Ascension Awards, which honors companies that possess the most innovative technology in their respective industries.

“Utilizing the Lantronix engineering team’s skills, knowledge and technology, we were able to create a wearable device that enables people with legal blindness to see—some for the very first time,” said Charles Lim, Chief Technology Officer of eSight Corp.

Case Study Overview

To enable individuals with serious visual impairment to see, eSight created its enhanced vision device. eSight relied on Lantronix Engineering Services to develop the camera, image processing and high-definition screens, as well as customize the Qualcomm APQ8084 application processor to enable the processing power. Together, these technologies increase the information that gets to the eyes, empowering individuals with low vision and legal blindness to see.  

Challenge: Utilize Camera Technology to Create eSight

The eSight team turned to Lantronix to tackle a big design challenge: utilize camera technology to create an enhanced vision device that would be functional and comfortable for users.

Challenges included:

• Integrating cameras, image processing and high-definition screens into a wearable device
• Ensuring functional operation in real-life user environments, including peripheral views
• Enabling wireless connectivity to enable the device to take photos and stream content
• Implementing technologies with the necessary on-device processing power
• Producing affordability for both the design and retail price for users

Solution: Lantronix Customization and Integration Services

With the goal of making the eSight affordable for users, Lantronix’s high-performance, low-latency custom solution for eSight featured a highly technical design that integrates custom circuit boards and software to take advantage of the power of the Qualcomm APQ8084 application processor. The design also included cameras, OLED displays, sensors, touchpad Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, audio, battery charging and device management. Software development included camera focusing technologies, security and driver support.

Results: eSight Brings Sight to Individuals With Visual Impairment

A typical eSight wearer has visual acuity of 20/60 to 20/800. Wearing eSight and looking at the live footage it captures, many achieve 20/20. Advanced algorithms optimize and enhance images before showing them on two screens in front of the eyes. Delivering more data to the brain creates an increased reaction from the eyes that enables the user to see faces, read and retain their mobility. As a bonus, unlike other assistive devices, eSight also allows users to take photos and stream content directly to the eSight screens and extend a shared account to loved ones so they can see what they see and help customize their experience.

Together, eSigh and Lantronix took advantage of the Android 7.0 smartphone-caliber processor to create the most valuable features of the eSight: 

• High-speed, high-definition (18 megapixel) camera with liquid lens and 24x zoom, contrast, focus, color settings and biopic tilt for peripheral vision 
• Two high-resolution, OLED screens for full binocular vision 
• Sensors for detecting distance, temperature and orientation 
• Advanced UI with HDMI, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth that allow the user to take photos, stream content and get automatic cloud-based updates