Using artificial intelligence to develop joint attention in blind children

The aim of the research is to explore how such technology might be used to empower visually impaired children to develop awareness and understanding of spatial-social relationships. The goal of the research is to develop quantitative and qualitative measures that help guide the ongoing development of this inclusive technology.
The research project is focused on the collaboration between project Tokyo and the Bristol Interactive Group. Microsoft's project Tokyo is working to create visual agent technology. The project works closely with people who are blind or have low vision so that the technology can be developed based on an in-depth understanding of the individuals using and benefiting from its use. This research project would explore how this technology can be used in the most effective way to support blind children to develop their social skills.
The research will explore how such technology might be used as a visual attention analogue, enabling children to develop awareness, and understanding of others' attentional patterns and their embedding in spatio-social relationships.
The focus of the research project will be directed towards long-term evaluation and further development of social interaction technologies. It will also explore novel metrics and evaluation techniques for evaluation with small populations.
The project fits within Bristol Interaction group broader research agenda of investigating the design, development, and evaluation of inclusive technologies for people with and without disabilities.