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Smartphones have become amazing tools extending our capabilities, in a way they represent the next step on a path towards "superhumans" after the first step taken two millions years ago when our ancestors "invented" the tools that made our species "faber".
an We are using them as extension of our knowledge to look for information when and where it matters to us. They are progressively becoming monitors for our health and doctors in the field are using them to identify bacteria in places where no lab exist.
An Australian start up, Aipoly, has released an app based on neural networks, working on a smart phone that can "see" through the smart phone camera the ambient and recognise objects. So far it can recognise about 1,000 objects and they are pushing it to 5,000. Once an object is recognised the app "talks" pronouncing its name. It can also recognise colours and Aipoly is working to have the App recognising, and describing, complex scenes.
Interestingly, the neural network can learn, so people using the app can actually teach the apple to get better!
The app is clearly intended to help people with severe sight problems and it really does it job (look at the clip).
I found amazing to see the number of apps that can be built on a smart phone and how they can really improve our life.
The processing power available in a smart phone, along its storage capacity, makes this possible. What it takes is a bit of ingenuity and a lot of dedication, both are quite abundant if you have the world as the source.
