What color are your clothes today? You’re probably smiling because it’s such a simple question for you, but for a blind child, this question didn’t have an answer until now… According to statistics, every thirty seconds, someone loses their vision permanently. Every minute, a child has their joy of seeing taken away forever. Florin Jurchiș, an IT specialist and founder of Milnesium company in Cluj-Napoca, together with the help of Tudor Scripor, the inventor of the Scripor Alphabet, and the Scripor Alphabet Association, developed the New Horizons application.
Florin Jurchiș, the founder of Milnesium company, gave an interview to Gazeta de Cluj reporter, along with the inventor of the Scripor Alphabet, Tudor Scripor, in which they explain the concept of the New Horizons application and talk about the benefits it brings to the life of someone who doesn’t have the privilege of distinguishing colors
Sabina Popescu: What is the name of the application and how did the concept behind it come to life: was it your initiative or someone else’s?
Florin Jurchiș, Founder of Milnesium: The name of the application is New Horizons. As with any innovation, the need was the basis for the development of this application. Our colleagues from the Scripor Alphabet Association, without whom this application wouldn’t have been possible, through discussions and working with the visually impaired, understanding and knowing the barriers they face in their daily lives around the world, realized that things are becoming clearer, namely that you start to know what they want and what they need. In this regard, our partner and the inventor of the Scripor Alphabet, Mr. Tudor P. Scripor, can provide more details.
Tudor Scripor, the Inventor of the Scripor Alphabet: One of the most important desires and needs of blind people, those who suffer from achromatopsia or color blindness, has now been fully addressed thanks to this application: the need to independently choose, recognize, and coordinate their own clothes.
With this application, the fashion world has become accessible to the blind. They will be able to differentiate the colors of their clothing on a daily basis in their choices. For example, soon blind individuals will be able to independently select clothes from their favorite stores. Moreover, they will be able to choose their outfits at home and arrange their wardrobe according to their own preferences.
The Scripor Alphabet implemented the tactile alphabet of colors right before the start of the pandemic within a martial arts sports club, which also involves blind athletes. Since then, blind athletes of Sport Group SAKURA can independently recognize the colors of their martial arts belts, equipment, flags, and even medals. We hope that in the future, other sports clubs with Paralympic athletes will follow the example of those mentioned above.
Sabina Popescu: Who did you collaborate with for the development of the application? Were there any funding for this project?
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: The New Horizons application is based on the algorithm of the tactile alphabet of colors, invented by Mr. Tudor P. Scripor. We have an excellent collaboration with his team, providing us with everything we need. This includes learning the algorithm of the tactile alphabet of colors and simulations of tactile labels for clothes. Milnesium, through the partnership with Scripor Alphabet, has joined a growing community consisting of blind children, youth, and adults, educators, teachers, doctors, IT professionals, athletes, volunteers, and many, many PEOPLE.
Together with our partners from the Scripor Alphabet Association, we strongly believe that when you want to do something useful for humanity, it should not be driven by financial considerations but by the desire to do good, something that can positively change people’s lives. There were no funding sources involved, and all costs are covered in-house.
Sabina Popescu: What benefits does the application bring to the life of a blind person?
Tudor Scripor, the Inventor of the Scripor Alphabet: The main benefits are independence and confidence for blind individuals to choose their own clothing and accessibility to clothing diversity.
The association of colors in a person’s outfit or the appropriate choice of clothes influences how we perceive that person. The color of clothing is one of the main criteria for typical individuals when making choices.
Blind individuals will be able to easily identify the colors of clothes and choose the appropriate outfit themselves. Whether it’s using the application during the clothes shopping process or making choices from their own wardrobe, the application is an accessible and free tool compared to other assistive devices for color identification. For example, two shirts made of the same material but with different colors provide the same tactile information, but the outfits are different because of the colors.
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: Blind individuals rely on technology, especially the use of smartphones. Each person has a mobile phone that has become an almost indispensable tool. The application aims to simplify everyday challenges and reduce the number of devices and associated costs required for daily use. The price of a color detection device starts at around 200 euros, equivalent to the price of a latest-generation smartphone.
Sabina Popescu: What kind of systems can the application be implemented on?
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: The current version of the application works on Android and will also be available on iOS.
Sabina Popescu: Is the application free or paid?
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: One of Mr. Scripor’s principles was to offer the tactile alphabet of colors to humanity for free, to those in need. We will respect this principle and his vision. The application will be available for free download to anyone who believes it can improve and enhance their life in one way or another. In this way, the world becomes more accessible and inclusive for the 2.2 billion people with visual impairments worldwide.
Sabina Popescu: How many requests have there been so far, both nationally and in Cluj-Napoca?
Tudor Scripor, the Inventor of the Scripor Alphabet: As I mentioned, this application is intended for all blind people worldwide, those who suffer from achromatopsia or color blindness. All blind individuals who have heard about this application or have participated in its testing are eager to have the final version as soon as possible.
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: Currently, we are in the fine-tuning stage, and soon the official launch will take place, making the application available internationally through Google Play. At the moment, the installation of the application is done on mobile devices through independent sideloading, separate from the Google Play Store.
Sabina Popescu: Are there organizations interested in the developed system, such as the Association of the Blind?
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: Nothing for the blind without the blind! The Scripor Alphabet Association has successful collaborations and partnerships with many blind associations in the country and especially abroad. Being partners, their members will be the first to benefit from this application.
Tudor Scripor, the Inventor of the Scripor Alphabet: Regarding the Association of the Blind, like in any organization regardless of the field or profile, there are visionary people who want to try new things, as well as those who are more hesitant towards innovations and technology. This is absolutely normal, and we encourage everyone to embrace technology in general and specially tailored solutions. The important thing is that by combining the tactile alphabet of colors with technology, we significantly contribute to improve the quality of life and provide independence and inclusion for blind individuals.
Of course, we are proud of successful collaborations with blind associations in the country, which we appreciate, and we have positive signals that the number of collaborations will increase rapidly in the near future. We believe that this aspect should be addressed progressively for the benefit of the community members. At the same time, we hope and make every effort to define a systematic, coherent, and well-coordinated program at the national level in collaboration with the Association of the Blind in Romania in the upcoming period.
Sabina Popescu: What kind of technology is the application based on?
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: The application is based on Computer Vision algorithms of Artificial Intelligence. Once we have created these algorithms, they begin to mimic the learning process of the human brain and become intelligent by going through the materials provided by our partners. They learn like a child going to school, the only difference being that with the current computing power, the computer is capable of going through tens of thousands of images containing the characters of the Scripor Alphabet in just a few hours. In parallel, we coded the mobile application, and at the end of the development, we incorporated into it a mathematical model compatible with mobile devices, which now has the knowledge acquired by Artificial Intelligence in the learning process.
Sabina Popescu: What is the operating principle of the application?
Florin Jurchis, Founder of Milnesium: The user enters the application and points the phone towards the label of the clothing item or towards an element in the surrounding environment that is inscribed with the characters of the alphabet. The application recognizes the respective characters and transmits an audio message to the user, describing the color of the corresponding object through the characters of the tactile alphabet. Other types of devices that detect the color of an object can provide erroneous results due to factors such as the lighting conditions or the heat generated by lighting fixtures, etc., while the character of the Scripor Alphabet remains the same regardless of external factors. In addition to this use, the application helps users easily adopt the Scripor Alphabet. Therefore, besides its role as an assistive tool, it also has an educational role for those who are not yet familiar with the tactile alphabet.
The New Horizons application is in the fine-tuning phase for the final version, but the developers have already received a positive response from the visually impaired. Statements in this regard, from people working with individuals with such disabilities and from the visually impaired themselves, are presented below.
Statement 1 Scripor Alphabet Association: How important do you consider colors to be?
Belean Alexandru, Assistant for Paralympic Athletes: Very important.
Scripor Alphabet Association: What is your opinion about the New Horizons Application?
Belean Alexandru, Assistant for Paralympic Athletes: I think the application is a very good idea. I would like to test the application, and I believe it would help visually impaired individuals when it comes to matching clothes in stores and at home.
Statement 2 Scripor Alphabet Association: How important do you consider colors to be?
Szanto Attila, Visually Impaired: Colors have played a very important role in my life. Scripor Alphabet Association: What is your opinion about the New Horizons Application?
Scripor Alphabet Association: What is your opinion about the New Horizons Application?
Szanto Attila, Visually Impaired: From my point of view, it is a very useful application, welcomed in assisting people with visual disabilities. I believe it would greatly help me in coordinating my clothes, and I would like to try this application!
Statement 3 Scripor Alphabet Association: How important do you consider colors to be?
Elena Bodnar, Assistant for Paralympic Athletes: Colors have a great importance in life.
Scripor Alphabet Association: What is your opinion about the New Horizons Application?
Elena Bodnar, Assistant for Paralympic Athletes: An application that helps distinguish colors is something innovative that would greatly benefit many people. It would certainly be very helpful in matching clothes in stores and especially at home. It would be interesting to be able to test this application as soon as possible.
Florin Jurchiş, the founder of the Cluj-based startup Milnesium, is the IT specialist who, along with the company’s internal developers, has developed the Milnesium Mask Detector application, which has been well-received, including in the United States. Milnesium has successfully delivered end-to-end software applications for both core and ancillary processes for local companies and major international companies in industries such as FinTech and Electrical Equipment.
Tudor Paul Scripor is a painter from Cluj who invented the Scripor Alphabet for visually impaired individuals. Thanks to his invention, Romania has become the first country in the world to implement this concept. The invention was awarded the Gold Medal in the Education, Culture, and Art category at the 2019 Geneva Invention and Innovation Exhibition, and there is a possibility for this concept to be implemented globally.