Be My Eyes, a company that connects blind and low-vision people with volunteers through live video, announced late last month that its software will be integrated into Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.
According to new reporting by Forbes, the accessibility software is an experience that is activated “entirely by voice command.” Saying, “Hey Meta, call a volunteer on Be My Eyes” will initiate a one-way video, two-way audio call with a sighted person who speaks the user’s native tongue.
The integration will allow the volunteer to see through the lens of the smart glasses and provide a real-time description to the user through their open-ear speakers. This functionality can be useful for mundane, everyday tasks, like finding the right aisle at the supermarket, setting the desired temperature on a thermostat, or finding misplaced personal possessions around the house.
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The “Call a Volunteer” functionality in Meta’s AI glasses will initially be available in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, per Forbes.
“We believe, and many very thoughtful people in the accessibility space believe, the future [of accessibility] is in wearables,” Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley told Forbes. “Particularly when you think about the blind and low vision community, the idea you could have AI give you greater independence while having a hands-free experience is an extremely big deal. It’s deeply profound.”
Buckley also noted an overall positive community feedback, highlighting a Facebook group called Blind Users of Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. The private group initially started with just two participants and has since grown to over 1,300 members.
Andre Bosworth, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, played an instrumental role in bringing the smart glasses project to fruition, Forbes writes. The two companies have committed to a “deep development partnership” for which Buckley has “many aspirations.”
Meta workers in Menlo Park have the opportunity to work on projects they find interesting and fulfilling. Per Forbes, the Be My Eyes project has been “one of the most popular projects Meta has ever seen in terms of the number of engineers who wanted to volunteer and work on this thing.” The engineering groups at both companies have spent thousands of hours together, in places from California to New York to Denmark.
“There is a wide palette of things we can do together,” Buckley said, as quoted by Forbes.
Editor’s Note: the article was updated with a scene from “Sight Unseen” TV show.
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