Super Lidar - Lidar for Blind

Category

Description of App

Super Lidar helps the blind and visually impaired users to locate objects and people around them and understand their surroundings’ layout.

With the power of AI and the Lidar sensors, Super Lidar parses the depth of the physical space you are in and finds the objects and people in front of you. Lidar is a type of depth sensor that enhances the capabilities of augmented reality apps and serves as the eyes of self-driving cars which is now available on iPhone 12 Pro.

Super Lidar has been specifically designed for the blind and the visually impaired users who want to make sure they maintain social distance and know whether people around them are wearing masks.

Full features of SuperLidar:

- Depth Description: Scans and maps the 3D layout of your environment to determine the distances of your surroundings and gives sound feedback to avoid obstacles. Higher pitch sound corresponds to longer distances. A low pitch sound indicates an obstacle nearby. Additionally, on iPhones, haptic feedback is provided to indicate an immediate obstacle visible to the camera. Strength of the vibration increases with the size of the obstacle.

- People Detector: Detects people that appears on your camera and let you know about their distances to ensure maintaining social distance

- Mask Detector: Checks whether the people around are wearing any type of face covering or not

Most features work without an internet connection so that users can use it in any situation (without having to have an active connection). The app has full VoiceOver accessibility support and is available in multiple languages. Whenever you get stuck about how to use the app, you can always Request a Call or check the Help screen under the Menu.

Super Lidar is developed by Mediate, an MIT-spinoff AI start-up based in Boston. As Mediate, we develop innovative computer vision systems with the support of the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Veterans Affairs. We have previously developed Supersense, an AI app for the blind and the visually impaired. This app is another step in our mission to develop groundbreaking AI solutions to augment people’s capabilities. We have developed the app with principles of human-centered design and with the assistance of blind and visually impaired users. We also partnered with many organizations that help the blind and low vision community.

If you would like any assistance or help, please email us at feedback@mediate.tech. We always love to hear ideas and feedback from the blind and visually impaired community.

Super Lidar is free.

You can read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy from here: https://mediate.tech/policies

We hope you will enjoy your new Lidar sense!

Version

1.0

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

14.3

Accessibility Comments

This is by the people behind the Supersense - AI for Blind. It’s very accessible and easy to use.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Options

Comments

By kevinchao89 on Saturday, January 23, 2021 - 10:27

i’m still trying to understand what all the auditory and haptic feedback means, but love that it identifies if a person is wearing a mask.

By Firefly on Saturday, January 23, 2021 - 10:27

I love my iPhone 11, am am I to understand this correctly that this will not work on the iPhone 11?

The app will be only working on iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max models since those have Lidar.

By Ekaj on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 - 10:27

I'm just curious to know why this app isn't supported on more models? No big deal but it just seems rather odd.

By Lee on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 - 10:27

Guys this post is 3 years old. So, not tried it but presumably this works on the 13pro/15pro etc. Just at the time the 12pro was out.

By Holy Diver on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 - 10:27

So, three years later do we have any viable alternatives? If there was a well maintained app that could take full advantage of the lidar sensors I'd be all over that, might even be enough for me to start daily driving a pro iPhone. I've heard of Seeing AI breadcrumbs, does that app do anything else with the Lidar tech? Running into badly maintained tree branches full speed and ramming my chest on those scooter things people leave mid sidewalk gets old after a while, I'm not a slow walker and a cane can only do so much.

By Ekaj on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 - 10:27

I took a look at the breadcrumbs feature in Seeing AI, and it's pretty cool. I tried using it to identify one of my medication bottles which is almost empty btw, but apparently I screwed up somehow. So I'm going to test the feature out on something else tomorrow. But at least iOS told me that Super Lidar wasn't supported on my phone. Upon hearing that I immediately closed the app and deleted it.