iCNS Distinguished Lecture: New Frontiers in AI-Assistance for Vision Rehabilitation

ABSTRACT

In this seminar, we provide an overview on the prevalence of visual disabilities in the US and worldwide as well as associated disparities, inequities, and barriers across social development, employment, educational attainment, and wayfinding. We show how assistive technologies can increase the users’ visual rehabilitation and expand their functional capabilities. We will explore how the proliferation of AI-powered assistive technologies can improve device functionality as single-purpose tools, as well as becoming multi-purpose, integrated, and intelligent digital companions through effective use of top-down control mechanisms and opportunistic computing. We will explore ergonomic factors of wearable assistive technologies and the effect on function and efficiency. We will also showcase our VIS4ION wearable system, a novel, multi-purpose assistive technology platform that hosts a wide range of AI-microservices that focus on addressing unique challenges encountered by the visually impaired community. We will discuss the development and testing of a wide range of AI microservices for indoor/outdoor wayfinding, pathing assistance, scene exploration, and many more. Together, these microservices provide comprehensive solutions designed to facilitate safe, effective, and informed mobility in new environments. Finally, we will discuss the next steps to integrate language-based AI to both co-ordinate our AI-systems, and summarize into a practical, flexible, and easy-to-understand user experience.

BIOGRAPHY

John-Ross (JR) Rizzo, MD, MSc, FACRM is a physician-scientist-leader at NYU Langone Health. Dr. Rizzo is the Vice Chair for Health Equity and Innovation at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He also holds appointments in the departments of neurology, ophthalmology, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and biomedical engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He heads the Visumotor Integration Laboratory, exploring motor control with a special emphasis on visual guidance and biomechanics in blindness, and the Rehabilitation Engineering Alliance and Center Transforming Low Vision Laboratory (REACTIV), exploring bio-inspired, multi-sensory assistive technologies with a special emphasis on advanced wearables. He is an advisor to multiple startups and early ventures focused broadly on technological disruption for those with visual impairments of all kinds and holds a series of board and advisory roles at leading NPOs, inclusive of the MTA, National Academies, Lighthouse Guild, FFB, CRF, City Access, and more. Dr. Rizzo capitalizes on his lived experience with vision loss in all aspects of his work.