# SCH: INT: Conversations for Vision: Human-Computer Synergies in Prosthetic Interactions

> **NIH NIH R01** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · 2021 · $258,268

## Abstract

The project will investigate prosthetic support for people with visual impairment (PVI) that integrates
computer vision-based prosthetics with video-mediated human-in-the-loop prosthetics. Computer vision-
based (CV) prosthetics construe the fundamental technical challenge for visual prosthetics as one of parsing
and identifying objects across scales, distances, and orientations. Visual prosthetic applications have been
central drivers in the development of computer vision technology through the past 50 years. Video-mediated
remote sighted assistance (RSA) prosthetics are more recent, enabled by different technologies, and construe
the orienting technical challenge for visual prosthetics as one of effective helping interactions. RSA services
are commercially available now, and have evoked much excitement in the PVI community.
The two approaches, CV and RSA, will be successively integrated through a series of increasingly refined
Wizard of Oz simulations, and investigate possible synergies between the two approaches. We will employ
a human-centered design approach, identifying a set of key assistive interaction scenarios that represent
authentic needs and concerns of PVIs, by leveraging our 6-year relationship working directly with our local
chapter of the National Federation of the Blind.
RELEVANCE (See Instructions):
23.7 million American adults have vision loss; 1.3 million people in US are legally blind. This project addresses a
transformational opportunity to enhance human performance and experience, to diversify workplace participation, and
to enhance economic and social well-being.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10220137
- **Project number:** 5R01LM013330-03
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
- **Principal Investigator:** John Millar Carroll
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $258,268
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-19 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10220137

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10220137, SCH: INT: Conversations for Vision: Human-Computer Synergies in Prosthetic Interactions (5R01LM013330-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10220137. Licensed CC0.

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