Feelif

Internet gives us instant access to an endless supply of knowledge, mostly in graphic form, which is hard or impossible to access by the blind and visually impaired (B&VI). This is limiting their options in education, employment and everyday life. Our goal is to enable full access to digital content and consequently increase the social and digital inclusion for the B&VI.

We developed a technology that helps the B&VI to become digitally sighted and feel graphics on touchscreens of smart devices. We are developing a market place for digital specialized content for the B&VI, called Feelif Open Platform (FOP). FOP will unite all stakeholders, build a global community and increase specialized content creation for B&VI and in this strengthen the accessibility of digital data. 

Today’s world is driven on digital information. There are 15M petabytes of data available on the internet, 90% of this has been created since 2016. As the internet data is increasing daily, so is the importance of its accessibility to everyone. This data represents knowledge!

The community of B&VI people has limited access to digital data. Currently they can perceive graphic information through partial and impractical solutions (embossed printers, text to speech, etc.). Limited access to knowledge is limiting the options of B&VI in education, employment and everyday life. This helps us explain why 75-80% of B&VI in Europe are unemployed.

Our research is estimating 240.000 B&VI schoolchildren and 27,8M adults in the countries of G7, EU member countries, Turkey and Russia. This target group will be our first focus when developing FOP and specialized educational content. 

However our final beneficiaries are B&VI of all ages and in every country. WHO’s statistics estimate 253M B&VI people in the world. We will set a new global standard in how haptics are used to present digital content to B&VI and in this support their digital inclusion.

Our project’s goal is to enable the B&VI full access to digital content, giving them better access to knowledge, strengthening their independence, increasing productivity and supporting inclusion and empowerment in education and workplace.  

From the very beginning we are regularly working with the B&VI children, their parents and teachers, to understand the problems they have in education. Their knowledge and good practices have been implemented to our solution. We have tested the Feelif technology with several institutions specialized for B&VI in Slovenia, Netherlands, UK and USA. We visited conferences for B&VI, present the devices and technology and collect feedback. We are discussing the problems they have in schools and develop solutions that would increase the independence and engagement of B&VI in classes.

We will start our project focusing on B&VI schoolchildren in primary and secondary schools and create educational content for them. Because in their future, digital data and its accessibility will become even more important as it is now. When we scale up, we will widen the variety and create content for students, adults and seniors as well.

Feelif enables the B&VI to perceive graphics on a touchscreen and FOP will enable them easy access to the specialized content.

Feelif is a tool that helps the blind to become digitally sighted. It uses its own software, which among others enables browsing the internet independently with the help of AI, tactile feeling of photos, learning, playing games and boosting creativity.

Feelif uses a transparent relief overlay grid and the smart device's vibration function.  When the user is sliding his finger over the surface of the overlay grid the device is triggering vibration, sound and speech. Because of the relief overlay, the user can precisely determine where the vibration starts and where it ends. So by following part of the screen that vibrates, user can follow the shape outline and he can determine presented colors with distinguishing the vibration level.

We are creating specialized content for the blind and visually impaired (B&VI) for education, entertainment and practical application. Feelif technology is also supporting automatic conversions of existing content and adapts it for the B&VI. For example: using AI technology, we get a precise description of which elements are located on a selected photo, and the colors shown are automatically turned into specific levels of vibrations.

We will develop the Feelif Open Platform (FOP), an online marketplace with specialized content for B&VI. FOP will centralized the fragmented market and unite all stakeholders, the B&VI, their parents and teachers, developers and content creators. United under one roof, they will be able to share knowledge and good practices among each other and engage in the process of content creation. We will standardize the process of content creation, which will ensure quality and shorten the time for preparation, consequently also lower the cost of its production. With its access to specialized content, FOP will enable easy access to knowledge for the B&VI. A united marketplace will present new business opportunities for content creators and developers and their increased number will accelerate the content development and variety of content for B&VI users of all ages.

Feelif technology is activating the senses of touch, hearing and the remaining vision, to subsidy the vision impairments. This kind of experience is more powerful than the use of one single sense at a time (e.g., use of touch for tactile books). It ensures quick and quality understanding of given information. With Feelif, the digital content can be access anywhere and anytime. Second innovations are digital tactile books. Feelif technology is enabling us for the first time to create digital versions of multisensory books, which can be available on the internet and accessible to everyone.

Third innovation is the development of new hardware with better haptic system, using several vibrators with better performances. The current available smart devices don’t enable variety of different levels of vibration or its patterns. Vibrations are essential for an easier and more effective sensing of digital graphics on a smart device.

Fourth innovation is the Feelif Open Platform, which represents a united marketplace for digital tactile books and specialized content for B&VI. FOP connects all stakeholders, enables simple access to content and supports upgrades and promotion of good practices and content. This will accelerate the exchange of knowledge and progress.

The fifth innovation is our Software development kit and the Feelbook Maker application. They will give anyone access to the Feelif technology and simplify the content creation for B&VI. We will standardize the process of content creation, to ensure quality and shorten the time for preparation, consequently lower the cost of its production.  

Feelif technology helps the B&VI to become digitally sighted. This means, that B&VI can feel graphic content as photos, maps and graph, on a touchscreen.

With our special relief grid overlay on smart devices, the user feels where his finger is moving on the screen. The grid is composed of small half-spherical dots at a pitch of ca. 5 mm. When a user's finger is over a dot that corresponds to a dot or line on the screen, the software triggers vibration of a specific intensity and frequency. The system is so precise that it creates an illusion that a particular dot is vibrating. So when the user is scanning the surface with one finger (sliding with finger over the surface), he feels which dot is "active" and which is not. In order to make the sensation even stronger, we use clear sounds to describe colors and directions. Our research and tests have shown that blind people can determine the shape of an object or graphic function by following the haptic and audio feedback.

Our team realized after testing of the available hardware on the market, that we need to develop new and better haptic systems in order to set up the best multi-sensory experience. The current available smart devices don’t enable variety of different levels of vibration or its patterns. Vibrations are essential for an easier and more effective sensing of digital graphics, so we need a system with better vibrators that will provide a more detailed experience.

Feelif is opening new dimensions of digital content experience for the blind and VI. It opens them the door to knowledge available online and is supporting their digital inclusion.

At this moment, a regular blind user can access a webpage as Wikipedia, read the text but cannot see or feel the graphics or charts accompanying the selected topic. They can engage in an online conversation with their friends, but when confronted with a photo, someone has to describe it to them. They are not digitally independent as the sighted. With the growth of visual information, the disadvantage becomes bigger, job opportunities are limited and they become more socially excluded.

With the help of Feelif technology they will learn to recognize colors and shapes on a touchscreen, while following the haptic, audio and visual feedback. Due to Feelif technology and access to digital graphic content, the B&VI will have the ability to develop new skills, have the same opportunities and be able to compete with sighted people in the field of education and employment.  

At this moment, our devices are in use in several schools for the B&VI, societies for the B&VI and museums. Due to the nature of the institutions it is hard to calculate how many people are using the technology at the moment. For example, the Virginia Museum of Modern art had four thousand visitors in one month for a special exhibition, where they could paint digitally on Feelif and then feel their drawings on screen.

In our 5 year sales prediction, we will sell 400 devices in the next year, and 27,402 in the year 2025.

Our first focus are the 240K B&VI schoolchildren and 27.8M B&VI adults in the countries of G7, EU member countries, Turkey and Russia. Our final beneficiaries however, are the 253 M blind and visually impaired people in the world.

At this moment, Feelif solution is available in English, German, French, Turkish, Swedish and Slovene. With Norwegian and Chinese translation in the process.

In the next year we will develop the Feelif Open Platform. While developing the first ever marketplace for specialized content, we will speed up the process and lower the cost of digital content creation. With our Software development kit other developers will be able to create content for the B&VI, using our technology and proven methods to present graphics. With better conditions we will empower others to create content and increase its quality and variety.

In next five years we will become Platform operators. We will make sure to create a live market place, with every stakeholders involved working toward building a strong community and creating access to specialized digital content and solutions. By offering great haptic practice we will set a new standard in how haptics are used to present digital content to B&VI. Feelif will increase the accessibility of digital graphic content and stay mobile, practical and affordable to the people with sight loss.

We will start the process of educational content creation in English. The knowledge and experience we will get when implementing the project in the countries of G7, European Union, Turkey and Russia, will help us to speed up the upgrade and preparation of content for other languages and countries when we scale the project to reach the B&VI around he world.

• As a young business we have to build up brand awareness, to become trustworthy for our customers and business partners. We have to be approved by important institutions for B&VI community.
• Every country has its own system for technical health aid for the B&VI. Due to the differences it is very difficult to certify Feelif in each country. But this status is essential for us, to be commercially interesting for the distributors and individual customers.
• Our limited resources mean that we cannot deliver results as fast as we wish. With more people on our team (developers, content creators and business developers) we will achieve results faster.
• The current available smart devices don’t enable variety of different levels of vibration or its patterns, to ensure the sensing experience on the highest level. Vibrations are essential for an easier and more effective sensing of digital graphics, so we need a system with better vibrators.

• We will build up our brand awareness by visiting specialized conferences and events for the B&VI and present them our devices and technology. We will proceed with the market researches and ensure the understanding of B&VI need in separate countries.
• To certify Feelif as a medical aid for the B&VI we have to proceed with a medical research in a controled envirnonment and prepare specific technical documentations. We partner up with the Technology Park Ljubljana and will attend specialized workshops and present the innovation to the health care experts and plan to become certified by the end of 2020.
• To ensure the scaling up of our business we are actively looking for investments that will help us expand the team and accelerate the development of FOP and specialized content creation.  We are also looking for strategic partners with their own network and distribution chanells, which will support the scale up.
• We need to develop new and better haptic systems in order to set up the best multi-sensory experience for the Feelif users. We are currently looking for a business partner who will help us develop a system with several vibrators with better performance.

We have altogether nine team members. These are: two international and one national business developers, one marketing manager, two android developers, one graphic designer, one blind assistant in marketing and research and the director of the company.

Feelif team has strong individual members, experts in internet technologies, software development, business development, marketing and creative design

Željko Khermayer, the founder and CEO of Feelif is an innovator, motivated to use his technical experience and improving the digital inclusion of the B&VI. He is an experienced entrepreneur, founder of one of the best Slovenian digital agency 4web. In order to improve the Slovene payment discipline he also invented website Stop-Neplacniki.si, which has more than 350K visitors per month.

As a team, we are driven by the vision of changing the future for millions of people, who until now, could not use all the benefits of the digital world as the sighted people. Working with people with vision impairments has given us a lot of insight to develop our solution into the right direction, helping them to become digitally sighted.

We are working together with the Union for the blind and visually impaired and the association of parents of blind children in Slovenia. With their help we are testing the technology and developing solutions.

With our distribution partners we are researching the markets in Austria, Turkey and Sweden. We perform regular meetings and discussions to collect their feedback on separate markets.

We are collaborating with the Technology Park Ljubljana to become a certified medical aid for the B&VI in the European Union. We attend regular workshops to learn about the medical research and validation process and work with experts in this field, to prepare the documentation.

Our customer base consists of:

- Parents of blind and visually impaired (VI) children

- Schools and teachers, who teach blind and VI students

- Blind students, adults and seniors

- Public institutions as galleries and museums (for providing accessible environment)

We currently generate direct sales of our products through our website and we’re focusing on building a strong distribution network. We make partnerships with companies who will integrate Feelif into their existing devices to increase their accessibility. These will provide us licensing revenue.

We are creating the Feelif Open Platform (FOP), which is a marketplace, based on a revenue sharing model. On the FOP, developers and content creators will share and sell their work designed especially for the blind and VI.

To achieve the sustainability we offer direct sales of Feelif products on our website and we are building a distribution network to be available globally.

Our licensing revenue model will allow other companies to license Feelif technology and integrate it into their services and products.

We are working on the Feelif Open Platform, where all stakeholders will be able to contribute content and application for the blind and VI will provide a partnership between us and the content creators, which will result in mutual revenues.

All together will provide a sustainable economic ecosystem for Feelif and assure regular sales of the devices and new projects of combining Feelif technology with other services and products.

The goal of our project collides with the MIIT mission to empower all citizens of the world. Together we could change the future of millions of blind and visually impaired, that are socially and digitally excluded.

We believe that with the help of Solve we could find new potential
business partners that will help us scale our business in additional
countries. We are also looking for an investment to accelerate the development of Feelif Open Platform, which will unite the content market for B&VI, providing them with easy accessible and  specialized content at one place.

We hope to receive additional advice from other Solve members on entrepreneurship and marketing strategies, to accelerate the partnership deals and sales of our devices.

The media exposure will help is in building our brand name, especially in the US market.

We are interested in partnering with organizations which work with the blind and visually impaired, as are the American Foundation for the Blind and the Lighthouse agencies. With their help we could reach many B&VI in the US, their feedback would help us improve the content creation for the US market.

We are also looking for organizations and institutions, that are not directly connected with the B&VI, but would like to improve their services and make them more accessible to the community of people with vision impairments.

At this moment we are using the AI technology in the Feelif Camera and Picture Gallery applications, designed specially for the blind and visually impaired. The Camera application is giving the user real time information of the objects that are captured in the frame. This way the user can receive instant information what is in front of him and can easily position the camera according to his wishes.

Once the photo is captured it will open in the Picture Gallery. Here the additional information gathered with the help of AI will help the B&VI user to experience the content of a picture. He will first hear the announcement of the found elements on the photo. When exploring the photo with his finger, he will sense the shapes of elements and will distinguish different colors through different vibration variation on the device.

The multi sensory experience and the announcements of elements enable the B&VI to see the digital picture.

Data is the most valuable resource of the modern world. Data is knowledge. As the amount of data, most of it visual, grows exponentially, so do the disadvantages of the blind and visually impaired.They face challenges in education, in the job market, and even in the social spheres.

Blind and visually impaired find it difficult or impossible to access digital graphical information. Available solutions are only partial and impractical.The content market for blind and visually impaired is fragmented and hard to access.

Feelif helps the blind and visually impaired to become digitally sighted. It enables them to feel pictures and shapes. With Feelif they receive instant access to digital graphic information, while engaging all of their senses to aid the vision impairment.

The Feelif Open Platform (FOP) will be a marketplace for specialized content for the B&VI. We will unite all stakeholders, the B&VI, their parents and teachers, content creators and developers under one roof. With the Software development kit, we will encourage others to create content for the B&VI and share it on FOP.

A united market will decrease the content creation price, and support the sharing of content and good practices.
FOP will provide the B&VI access to the benefits of the digital era, that were not accessible to them before.