Spotlight: EchoVision: Redefining Independence Through AI and Inclusive Design

[MUSIC PLAYING]

VOICEOVER: Spotlight: Echovision – Redefining Independence Through Ai and Inclusive Design. Speakers: Xiaoran Wang, CEO, Agiga. Kevin Chao, Chief Visionary and Evangelist, Agiga.

XIAORAN WANG: Okay. We’re very happy to be here at Sight Tech Global. My name’s Xiaoran. I am the CEO of Agiga. We also have Kevin Chao, who’s the chief visionary and evangelist at Agiga. So today, we’re gonna talk about AI, wearable, and community-driven innovation. And of course, we are going to talk about Echo Vision, the smart glasses made with, by, and for the blind and low vision community.

To start, uh, let me do a little introduction of myself. Before starting Agiga last year, I have over a decade experience doing smart devices. The most famous one lots of you may have already heard, I have one at home, is Amazon Alexa. I was in the founding team of Alexa and saw how it was conceived and also how it became a real product. I also worked on lots of other innovations in fashion, in logistics, in home security. And all this experience help me and prepare me to build the Echo Vision for you.

Lots of people ask, “Why do you do this? Why do you want to build a product for the blind and low vision people?” I want to share the reason. My grandma is really close to me. I grew up with my grandma. And as she gets old, she start losing her vision. One of her fun part of life used to be looking at the pictures of her grandchildren. But as her vision gets blurred, it’s really hard for her to do that anymore, and she didn’t quite watch TV either. That was really painful experience for me to see how she suffered this and gradually lost the fun of her life.

And that’s why I start looking at the assistive tech market to see if there’s any product I can buy to help her easily see all this through audio. Unfortunately, the technology has been so advanced that I cannot see anything that do this very well. At the time, I look at OrCam, I look at Envision, I look at other products, and they do not do the things I wish to be. However, the price of those product are super high, thousands of dollars, which is really a surprise for me as I came from the consumer electronics industry, and I got used to a smart device like Alexa to be $25. And that made me think, “Okay, this is a thing I want to change.” That’s why I start working on Echo Vision when I doing my own startup.

And I’m not blind and I may not know everything you know, and that’s why I work with the community since the very beginning. Our company was incorporated in April. And even at that time, we start working with the blind and low vision community. Even before I founded the company, I volunteered at Vista Center to help people, blind people check mails and other stuff, other help needed at homes. And since I start work on this, we talked to hundreds of blind, low vision people. I went to their homes and I met them at events and other occasions so that I gradually know more about you. And also, we have Kevin, who joined us. Kevin, do you want to talk about yourself?

KEVIN CHAO: Yeah. My name’s Kevin Chao. I’m the chief visionary and evangelist at Agiga. Thank you, Xiaoran. Um, I joined, um, first found out about Agiga Echo Vision about a little over a year ago at the Vista Center Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition. And, um, kind of… So my background and experience is I’ve been blind since the age of 14 because of an eye condition called LHON, Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy. And I’ve basically dedicated my career towards tech accessibility, inclusion, and specifically people with disabilities with a primary focus on blindness and tech accessibility.

Um, started off with this technology with Sendero Group, the first ever braille and talking GPS, to higher education with San Francisco State University and Georgia Institute of Technology, and then later in the finance world with JPMorgan Chase and US Bank, and then technology with Google and Apple. And all along, has been focused on tech accessibility, and I’ve always been a power user, trailblazer, pioneer in either testing or buying or having some experience with a lot of either screen readers, braille displays, canes, and been riding the trend of these different wearables, AI, and glasses space.

And different… Whether be different wearables and glasses I’ve tried, even things that were announced here at the Google Business Center and Sight Tech Global like Celeste, and then other things like Envision, Meta Ray-Bans, OrCam. Either owned them or had direct experience and impressions of them myself. And, um, yeah, I was really excited and happy to have met Xiaoran and Agiga and try out Echo Vision a little over a year ago, and was really impressed with the integration with, at that time, already with both Aira and Be My Eyes, the human agents, as well as their approach of having button presses, with the top right button being like the AI button where you can describe a scene and have discrete and meaningful access to information.

Um, so I found through a series of trying it out in the exhibit hall, and then later requesting a private demo, and then having a couple other casual informal meetings and giving them some ideas and feedback around what I would like to see and expect in AI smart glasses, and how receptive and how excited and passionate they were, just kind of action results. And, um, going from concept ideas to implementing and getting to use the experience, and them later sending me to CSUN and the tech fair as part of Sacramento Society for the Blind, and then later officially joining them, join Agiga. Um, but yeah. It’s been… Um, and the whole mission of Agiga is empower every life through a product called Echo Vision that’s helpful, useful, and affordable, and really have found them, Agiga, to really live up to that mission and purpose, and really make for a meaningful, impactful product. And excited to tell you more about that, and pass it back to you, Xiaoran.

XIAORAN WANG: Yeah. Thank you, Kevin. So actually, Kevin is a first paid customer of Echo Vision, and he joined us as he was so impressed with the product and also so impressed by how fast, how quickly we can iterate on a product. So, um, now, let’s really take a deeper look at the product. Kevin, do you want to do introduction of Echo Vision?

KEVIN CHAO: Yeah. So Echo Vision, I’ll go ahead and just hold it in my hand and actually physically describe it for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to put their hands on it. Um, kind of…

XIAORAN WANG: Maybe you’ll also want to hold it up a little higher so that people who can see could see it.

KEVIN CHAO: Yeah. So I’m holding it up. Um, still have the charger connected. Um, it’s the… So in the back right of the arm, there’s a USB-C port so you can charge it that way. You can also put it in the case to charge it. But holding the glasses facing me, the top part’s flat, the bottom, it’s kind of… And the sides are a bit rounded and kind of feel more or less like regular sunglasses.

The top left corner as it’s facing me is where the camera is. It’s a 13 megapixel ultra-wide camera. It has 54% more field of view than other smart glasses people may be familiar with. And it’s positioned landscape because it’s intended to use AI and human agents to describe the visual world and convert that into audio. And then top right corner, there’s a LED indicator to let the visual or sighted world know you’re recording or have a camera actively engaged.

Um, I’ll go ahead and open it up as if I’m gonna wear it, but not gonna place it on yet until we do the demos. And then, so I have the arms of the glasses opened. In the top right edge about a quarter of an inch away from the hinge, there’s a rectangular button. We call that the AI button. That’s where most of the magic happens. And then on the top left, similar, kind of mirrored position on the top left is the power and camera control. And then in each of the arm of the glasses, there are speakers. So stereo sound. There’s multiple microphones on board. It has entire system on chip, wifi, Bluetooth, processors, storage and RAM.

And so most, as I mentioned, most of the magic happens with the top right AI button through a series of either button presses or long holding, you can get discrete access to information. And then also on the left side, the temple of the glasses, there’s a touch pad sensor, and we’ve made it tactilely discernible so there’s a horizontal line that you can actually feel, and that’s intended to give you access to additional things as far as either muting or unmuting the microphone, capturing the current scene if you’re in Live AI.

So a quick walkthrough of what the buttons do and the type of… At a high level, what Echo Vision does is converts the visual information to audio and describes it, and with the top right AI button, we have a few different modes. So a single button press will go into scene description, or you can also voice prompt it and ask it for specific information you’re interested in, which includes transit information, you can say, “Navigate to a specific point of interest or address.” You can also connect with human agents, both professional trained ones like Aira or Be My Eyes, the volunteer one, or you can ask it for specific things as far as, what am I holding…

XIAORAN WANG: Yeah, before that, let me interrupt a little bit. I think this one press thing is really loved by lots of people, as if you are in front of people or if you are in a quiet environment, you do not have to talk. You just simply press this button once and things are done. It will automatically describe what’s in front of you in detail, and you do not have to ask any question because we know this is a highly high frequency use case for the blind low vision community, so we built this into a physical button. We built this request into a physical button. Of course, if you want to, you could ask questions, but if you just press it without asking a question, it will actually describe the scene for you.

KEVIN CHAO: Yeah, and the scene description’s really robust in terms of it will describe indoor/outdoor, whatever the environment looks like, including if there’s a person that’s prominent, it will describe what they visually look like in full detail, similar to what a sighted person may perceive from their height, width, color of their skin, hair, eyes, their race/ethnicity, approximate age and so forth. And also, if it’s a familiar face that you’ve added, it can also do facial recognition, identify them by name and title. Um, and then if there’s text, like prominent, you can also… It will read that text. Um, so you kinda single button press, you get access to all the information without having to talk to the glasses.

And, um, so then if you do a double press of the AI button twice, it will go into what we call live AI, which I describe as close to real time audio description as possible. So, um, you can freely explore, interact with your environment and have live AI kind of give you a play-by-play audio description of whatever it sees, and then you can also follow up with specific things that you’re interested in. Um, and some of those kind of possible commands are like, “Tell me what store this is,” or, “Tell me what street sign you see,” or, “Help me find a trash can, find an exit door, find an empty chair. Tell me about overhanging branches.” Um, so things are pretty, um… no need to kind of try to find out that information by asking people or not having immediate access to that information.

Um, and then a triple press of the AI button will go into text reading or book reading mode where you can hold a physical book or some sort of text or flyer in front of the glasses’ camera and it will read it. And, um, so we’ve had a number of people at different conferences and places where we’ve demoed, been able to show them the glasses, hand them a book, and ask them, “When’s the last time they’ve done this?” And the reaction is, “First time doing this. Never had the opportunity to do this before.” And we’ve had everyone from either kids to a 93 year old veteran…

XIAORAN WANG: Hey, Kevin, maybe we can take this chance to play this demo and testimonial video. So in this video, we invited four blind people to a house and we hand them Echo Vision glasses and let them to try out and give their authentic feedback. So everything in this video is totally unscripted, and it will show you what we have been experiencing in the past few months, how people love this product, and how they think this is helping them. Okay, let’s take a look at the video.

[VIDEO PLAYS – Demo with four blind users testing EchoVision]

VOICE IN VIDEO: With the press of a button, George gets his first scene description.

ECHOVISION: On the left, a man with dark hair and a beard is holding a camera, wearing a black T-shirt and dark pants. In the center, there’s a woman wearing a polka dot blouse and dark pants.

USER: That’s a good description.

FEMALE USER: Most tech hasn’t been built for us and even when it has, I haven’t felt fully understood.

USER: Is the microwave built in or is it on the counter? Describe this room. What type of video camera? And I know you guys keep calling it a prototype, but I’ve used production glasses that have more hiccups than this.

ECHOVISION: A man with short, straight black hair. Eyes that seem focused.

USER: You get a lot of dates this way? (laughs)

FEMALE USER: Everything I needed to know to make a decision and that’s what’s empowering. It gives you back the power to make decisions for your life.

NARRATOR: Let’s try the book reading mode.

ECHOVISION: A warranty in which one Robert Mares sold 35 acres to Philip. Next page.

USER: I was able to read a full page, turn a page, read another page. That’s good. I haven’t thought about physically reading a book in many years, so this opens a new door to something I’ve given up on.

NARRATOR: To look around the park.

USER: Can you identify any landmark you see? Can you tell me about the plants and trees? Can you describe what tree I’m looking at?

FEMALE USER: I was really surprised at how much area I could get information about just instantaneously. Really, you know, just lovely to just be able to look around and see the expanse of the world around me, see how big things are. I think I’ve forgotten a lot of that.

NARRATOR: And when your hands are full, Echo Vision is hands-free with voice activation. Even with remote visual interpretive services like Aira and Be My Eyes…

USER: Sometimes you wanna walk with your cane and your coffee (laughs). I can now do that.

NARRATOR: I want you to compare the Echo Vision glasses to your escort, Gary.

USER: (laughs) All right. Well, all I have to do with the Echo Vision is push one button and it responds. (laughs) He doesn’t have any buttons. He has buttons, but it takes a lot more to push them. (laughs)

NARRATOR: Agiga. Empower every life. www.agiga.ai. Founded in 2024. Silicon Valley.

[END OF VIDEO]

XIAORAN WANG: Okay. Um, hope you enjoy the video. Sorry for the cutoff, Kevin. I’ll let you finish.

KEVIN CHAO: Um, and then the other kind of thing, if you’re not one to use AI or you find that you need to connect with a human, we have the option of connecting with a professional trained agent like Aira or a volunteer, Be My Eyes. So, with a voice command, you’re able to connect with either one. And I’ll go and put the glasses on for demo. So, gonna raise the microphone that I’m using on the headset closer towards the glasses so you’re better to hear it.

[LIVE DEMO]

KEVIN CHAO: So, if I do a single button press, it will do a scene description.

ECHOVISION: The scene shows a desk set up with a laptop displaying a Zoom video call, featuring a woman wearing glasses and a dark top. To the left of the laptop, there is a lit lamp with a glass cover, a green decorative figurine, and a white device labeled EE. Behind the laptop, there is a white vase with green leafy branches. On the right side of the desk, there is a large white insulated bottle with a black lid.

KEVIN CHAO: So, that was a detailed scene description, and I’ve gone ahead and held down the button to stop it. And now what I’ll show next is the Live AI. So, going to do a double press to show the Live AI.

ECHOVISION: Connecting to Live AI. Please hold on. Live AI ready. What can I do for you?

KEVIN CHAO: Describe what you see.

ECHOVISION: You are looking at a sliding glass door at 12 o’clock with an outdoor area visible through it. To the right, at 3 o’clock is a mirrored closet door and a person is visible sitting at a desk through the reflection. On a surface at 9 o’clock there are several bottles.

KEVIN CHAO: Okay. So, that was a scene description in Live AI and I’ll go ahead and now go into text reading mode. So, I’ve got a book here.

ECHOVISION: Move about one inch up. Stay still for a moment. Got it. You can lower the page. This appears to be a book page. The larvae eat pollen. The queen brings more. The larvae grow, wriggling and chewing. End of page. Press the AI button once to read the next page.

KEVIN CHAO: So, I’m gonna flip the page and read the next page real quick. It’s a children’s book, so that’s not many texts in the page. That’s why it’s so quick.

ECHOVISION: Move about one inch up. Stay still. Got it. You can lower the page. This appears to be a book page. Left page. Then, one spring day. The larvae spin cocoons. The larvae spin cocoons 10 to 14 days after hatching. The outer layers are still hard and yellow, so the larvae no longer need the wax covering of the pollen for protection. The queen gets rid of this wax. Right page. But the queen bee keeps working. She collects nectar. She gathers pollen. She lays more eggs. In between her other duties, the queen snuggles up to the new eggs. Heat from her body goes through a bare patch on her abdomen to warm the eggs. End of page. Press the AI button once to read the next page.

[END OF LIVE DEMO]

XIAORAN WANG: Thank you, Kevin, for showing the demo. Um, you can come to our YouTube channel or you can come to our Facebook page to watch more of the demos, more discussion from users. And we’re also helping run a beta program with tens of people, and lots of them really love Echo Vision. And now, let’s hear about what they say about it. So, let’s play the testimonial from Terri.

[TESTIMONIAL – TERRI]

TERRI: This is Terri. I apologize for the background noise. I’m waiting on a ride. But I have really gotten a lot from these glasses. I’m retired and my time is my own. I was sitting in my backyard wondering if my neighbor was home, and I looked toward their backyard where their carport is, and the car was not under the carport. I could not have known that.

I was waiting for a ride on another day on my front porch, which is pretty far from the street, and I asked the glasses if they saw a car in front of my house. They did. It was my ride.

This morning, I was using the Live AI mode waiting in a doctor’s office and it was phenomenal. I saw this whole procession of events that I would never have known about. People walking up. It identified where the receptionist’s counter and window was, and I saw people walking up to that window. I saw people walking down corridors toward me. I saw people writing, filling in their forms. The level of detail was phenomenal.

And I have… It connects really easily to personal hotspot on an iPhone. I would assume it would on another device, but for sure on the iPhone it’s just seamless. And I have just gotten so much joy and information from these glasses. If there’s a chance later I will say more, but that kind of sums up how pleasant and how much these glasses have contributed to my life as a beta tester.

XIAORAN WANG: Yeah, very impressing. It’s really fulfilling for us when we hear people say this, and we really want to use this device to help you. And there’s another testimonial from Mike. Let’s hear about what he said about it.

[TESTIMONIAL – MIKE]

MIKE: Hi, my name is Mike Forzano. I am from New York City and I’m also totally blind. I have been using the Echo Vision glasses for the last several weeks, and have used them a lot for travel and they’ve been really great. So I wanted to share one cool story that I have.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to go check out a jazz festival that was happening in a park in a neighborhood I had never been to in New York City. And, you know, I put on the glasses and as I was walking down the street with the live AI going, it was actually reading all of the signage that I was passing. You know, keep in mind I was looking forward, you know, I was looking straight ahead, but the Echo Vision glasses have this wide-angle camera and it was able to read all these signs without me even turning my head in that direction.

When I arrived there, you know, I sort of walked down this path into the park, and I heard the music playing and, you know, it was loud so I wasn’t sure how far I was from the stage, you know, where people were sitting, that sort of thing. So, you know, I asked it to sort of describe the scene and based on its response, you know, I said, “Are people sitting?” It said, “People are sitting on the grass.” I said, “Are people sitting on the side closer to the stage?” And it said, “Yes, there’s people sitting closer to the stage.” So, you know, I therefore decided to sit down on that side of the grass and I feel like without that information, you know, sure I could have found someone to ask but, you know, it would have taken longer. You know, this sort of allowed me to get the information quickly, get an idea of what was going on and, you know, sort of in a very loud, not chaotic exactly, but a situation where, you know, as somebody who’s totally blind and also hard of hearing, I didn’t totally know what was going on and what I should do. So, that was really amazing.

I also wanted to quickly comment on the single tap to sort of take a picture and get a description of the scene, you know, the current scene. It’s not the live AI, it’s sort of a snapshot. And the level of detail that you get out of that, you know, I’ve used all the tools out there, you know, all the AI apps, the Be My Eyes, Seeing AI, so on so forth, the level of detail that you get with this is really unmatched. You know, describing facial expressions, how the person looks. I was just really amazed by that and I was trying it this morning, I was trying it to look at a picture on the wall that I wasn’t sure what the picture was and it described all the people in the picture and, you know, their facial expressions, the mood of the photo and so on and so forth. It’s really cool.

So overall, I really enjoyed testing these glasses, giving the team feedback and they just have so much potential and really encourage everyone to get excited about it because they’re really a step forward for us.

XIAORAN WANG: Okay. Thank you, Mike. And thank you very much for your attention and thank you for the invitation, Sight Tech Global. It was great to be here. I hope you get enough about Echo Vision and I’m sure you want to know more. Please join us and you can subscribe to our newsletter on echovision.agiga.ai. And also as said, you can follow us on Facebook through Echo Vision user group or Google Group. Thank you very much.

KEVIN CHAO: Yeah, thank you so much Sight Tech Global. Appreciate the platform and the audience and, yeah, join the exciting, passionate group of Echo Vision community, the first AI smart glasses by, with, and for blind people and Agiga’s mission is to empower every life.

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