MAI ASSISTANT

Living with blindness or visual impairments is a challenge that millions face daily. Simple tasks such as crossing the street, shopping for groceries, or navigating a crowded area can become a daunting and stressful experience. According to the World Health Organization, there are around 285 million people globally who suffer from vision impairment, out of which 39 million are blind.

Blindness can significantly impact the quality of life, independence, and opportunities for individuals, making them rely on assistance from others. Despite the numerous assistive technologies available, they often fail to provide a comprehensive solution that can aid in everyday tasks and empower blind individuals.

The problem of navigating through the world independently has inspired us to create a solution that goes beyond traditional assistive technologies, empowering blind individuals with unprecedented capabilities, independence, and confidence. Our groundbreaking AI-assisted solution for blind people offers an intuitive, seamless, and easy-to-use system that bridges the gap between vision and experience. By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technologies, we aim to revolutionize the way blind people interact with the world, opening new doors of opportunities and possibilities.

What is “mAi Assistant”?

“Mai Assistant” is an application designed for individuals who are legally blind or have vision problems which can make their everyday life more challenging than it should be. Our goal is to create an app that utilizes AI not only to make their lives a little easier but also to provide them with the independence and safety they desire. The app has a variety of features that allow visually impaired individuals to navigate their environment with greater ease. Some of these features include text-to-speech capabilities that can read out information on nearby objects or written text, voice-controlled navigation, and even facial recognition technology. Our goal is to provide users with the tools they need to live independently, no matter what obstacles they may face.

One of the key benefits of our AI-assisted solution is its adaptability. The app can be customized to fit the unique needs of each user, allowing them to use the app in a way that makes sense for them. This adaptability ensures that the app is not only user-friendly but also a valuable asset in the daily lives of visually impaired individuals.

How does it work?

Users can utilize their voice to ask their Assistant (AI) to locate specific things around them or describe the environment using their smartphone’s camera.

If necessary, the Assistant will guide the user in finding lost objects or anything within their visual field. This can be particularly helpful not only when they have lost something but also when they are alone in an unfamiliar place.

Apart from locating the objects around the person, the app will be able to scan barcodes, recognize signs, and read texts (handwritten too) with accuracy in every language. Additionally, the AI assistant is equipped with an obstacle detection system that uses sensors to detect obstacles in the user’s path and alert them through audio. This feature enables users to navigate their environment safely and with ease, avoiding potential hazards such as uneven surfaces or obstacles on the sidewalk.

Our solution also offers personalized settings, allowing users to customize the assistant’s behavior based on their specific needs and preferences. This includes adjusting the volume and tone of the assistant’s voice, setting up location-based reminders, and selecting their preferred language for text-to-speech translations.

Our technology is based on cutting-edge machine learning algorithms that continuously learn and improve from user feedback, ensuring that the assistant becomes more accurate and efficient over time. The app’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to use for all individuals, regardless of their technical expertise or level of vision.

Differences

But what will differentiate us from other similar apps? We aim for mAIassistant, to be able to offer in the long run, an additional feature integrated with Google Maps. It would proactively notify users about obstacles along their route, enabling them to adjust their path or take necessary precautions. The data for this feature would be gathered from users of the app, as well as individuals utilizing Google Maps. By continually updating the information whenever users encounter the same location, the app would enhance the overall user experience and promote safer navigation. Except for that, the usage of our app will be formed to help its audience with their daily activities in a more manageable way. People will not have to scan at that moment the environment they are at the time to find their lost objects, but mAIassistant with its memory card, will memorize objects via the phone camera. As a result, the help we offer to the audience will be more immediate and quick.

Marketing Plan

When it comes to our marketing plan, mAI assistant, desires to increase the downloads, spread awareness, make people with sight problems feel included, and hopefully, collect enough money so that we can evolve MAI Assistant with better features in the near future. To make that happen we will use Channels such as both App Store-iOS and Google Play Store–Android devices.

Market Size Estimation

While creating our idea for the mAI Assistant we did research on the market of Assistive Technologies and Apps for Visually Impaired. We saw that in 2021 in terms of revenue, the market size and share were valued at 3.9 Billion USD, and by 2030 it’s expected to surpass 13.2 Billion USD growing at the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.5%.

Revenue Model

For the profit of our application, we created a brief revenue model which is divided into five -connected to each other- parts. We decided that we want in-app profits but outside of it.
Firstly, pay per download and subscriptions. Whenever someone is downloading the app will have to pay so that they can use it. But there is a discussion about “Freenium” too. Being a start-up app we want people to get to know us first, so for the first year, the first two months will be a free trial for our customers.

Additionally, another income will be provided from in-app purchases. The features that are more delicate and are more difficult to be created will have a small fee.

Lastly, we will have revenue via advertisement inside the app.

Betty Tsakarestou, Domnika Skreta

NefeliPapa, KatsivelakiMarilia, GiorgosLaliotis, ParaskevopoulouKaterina