RFID Ears

It often occurs to me that people try to do too much with new technology, and that maybe if they thought a little more simply they would get better results. RFID tags are a point in case. The number of justifications I have heard for RFID tags that are based around intrecate information models, or complex device interactions is incredible.

One idea that I have had, that RFIDs could simply and effectively achieve, is object identification. One thing RFIDs are great at is identifying stuff. You write a bit of code into the tag that says “I am an X”. Simple.

If you want to be a tiny bit more complex, you add certification to say who created this information. Along the lines of SSL certificates on the internet. This means that you not only know that the tag is an X but also that Y said it. So Y has identified X for us.

Now, the cool bit. RFIDs are basicly transponders. They are passive devices, require no batteries, and can just sit around happly all day doing nothing until called on. So if you embedded and RFID in say a door, you wouldn’t need anything, but glue it in.

The idea of RFID eyes, is to take this simplest of features of RFID tags and use it to give an auditory indication to people with visual impairment of where and what something is. RFID tags only activate when a reader is close enough. There is also nothing to stop someone from making a ‘narrowband’ reader that was highly directional. Think of something like a satellite dish, but on a smaller scale. The man from Sky has to come and fit it, so that it points in the right direciton otherwise you can’t recieve the broadcast.

What I would like to see is a device which a person could cast around with, and get an auditory (or even dynamic braille) output, describing what they are pointing at. “You are pointing at the Ladies’s toilets” for example could save some embarresment for the gentleman.