Speaker 1 00:00:39 And good evening. Thank you for joining disability and progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. If you want to be part of our email list, you may email me@disabilityandprogressatsamjazminedotcomdisabilityandprogressatsamjasmine.com for comments or anything else. All right, tonight, we have Raz mobility on the schedule. Raza mobility CEO. Robert guard is in with us, and he's going to be talking about accessibility of, um, Lucia mobile phone and Raz mobility. Good evening, Robert.
Speaker 2 00:01:25 Hi, how are you doing?
Speaker 1 00:01:27 Good. Oh, I can hear you better. All right. Can you hear me now?
Speaker 2 00:01:33 I can hear you very
Speaker 1 00:01:34 Well. Oh, there we go. All right. So Lucia, that's how you pronounce the phone.
Speaker 2 00:01:42 Exactly.
Speaker 1 00:01:43 Excellent. Can you tell me, uh, who is Graz mobility?
Speaker 2 00:01:50 Well, Raza mobility is a company that I formed about, um, two years ago and it provides assistive technology solutions across the country. We primarily sell actually to government agencies, including the state of Minnesota and also at the federal level to the us department of veterans affairs. And of course, we also started recently to sell directly to consumers and in particular we're selling Lucilia directly to consumers. Excellent.
Speaker 1 00:02:32 All right. So give me some history on you. Like, how did you decide to do something like this?
Speaker 2 00:02:40 Well, I didn't start out in accessibility. Uh, I actually started out as a lawyer. I was practicing law for almost 20 years. Excellent. Okay. And I became a general counsel and a small telecommunications. And while I was there, I started a service for people who are blind and the service was called Odin mobile. And it was the first wireless service that was exclusively focused on serving people with disabilities.
Speaker 1 00:03:17 You know, I have this memory, I have this memory about school
Speaker 2 00:03:20 Right into it. And eventually I decided I wanted to go out on my own and start my own business.
Speaker 1 00:03:28 Yeah. I have this memory of us interviewing Odin mobile. Um, that might've been me. It might've been a while ago. Yeah. So what, what does Lucy, I looked like,
Speaker 2 00:03:47 So it's actually a fairly large phone. It's designed to be large on purpose because the buttons are fairly large for people with dexterity issues. So I would call it really a big button, a mobile phone. It's probably about five inches long and about three inches across and maybe half an inch or less in width. The, um, the bottom two thirds of the phone has buttons of course, one to nine they're WellSpace, uh, they're concave buttons. And then right on top of that key pad or what I would call the command buttons. And there are five command buttons, a call button to initiate phone calls that's on the left and in the middle is what I was calling. Okay. Button. And on top of that is an opp arrow. And below it is a down arrow and to the right of that is the end button, the end phone calls. And then on top of those buttons is a display itself, which is quite large and, uh, has large fonts and color contrast, et cetera, to, um, accommodate people with low vision.
Speaker 1 00:05:22 Keeping it pretty simple there. Presumably you have a zero pound and star two.
Speaker 2 00:05:28 Exactly. Exactly.
Speaker 1 00:05:31 So it's, it's not a flip phone. No, it's just a regular size. Okay. Uh, what do you find that, um, people need this large of buttons to, um, use the phone as far as, because go ahead.
Speaker 2 00:05:56 It's designed for seniors and particular for people with vision loss or who are hard of hearing. So for people who have vision loss or dexterity issues, uh, the, the larger buttons are very important.
Speaker 1 00:06:14 How'd you come up and where
Speaker 2 00:06:17 I was the name, uh, actually that was, uh, it wasn't us. It was, it, it was developed or the, it originated from the swift company that we partner with to develop it. Uh, maybe it's the ma the founder's daughter. I don't know.
Speaker 1 00:06:41 So do you have any favorite features of that you liked best?
Speaker 2 00:06:48 Yeah, so it's a very, very simple phone and it's designed for people with vision loss who can't handle a touch screen. So all those people out there who don't want to learn gestures, right? They don't want to learn voiceover the screen reader for, for the iPhone, right. Or, or talk back for an Android device.
Speaker 1 00:07:11 They're a little shaky with the, their muscles and stuff.
Speaker 2 00:07:16 They're shaky with her muscles, or it's just too difficult for them to learn the gestures, or they just don't want to write. They don't feel like they need a smartphone. They don't need the check ESPN and the baseball scores, or they don't need to, uh, go on Facebook. So all they want is a phone to talk and text, and that's really who it's designed for.
Speaker 1 00:07:44 Well, I'm glad that it texts.
Speaker 2 00:07:47 It does text.
Speaker 1 00:07:49 So talk about what, what kind of speech does it use?
Speaker 2 00:07:56 So it has a number of voices and everything is vocalized for the user who's completely blind. Okay. So I can actually show it to you or play to if you'd like, I'd like to hear it. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:08:20 Yes.
Speaker 2 00:08:22 Okay. I'm going to just scroll through the menu.
Speaker 3 00:08:26 Um,
Speaker 2 00:08:39 Okay. Right there. That was the main, main menu. And you can hear how it speaks the menu items. I could change the voices if I want. So I selected a nice British, rich voice, but if I wanted a female American voice, I could choose that. Or if I wanted an American American voice, I could select that. And I have a couple of choices with respect to languages as well.
Speaker 1 00:09:10 Oh, excellent.
Speaker 2 00:09:12 Yeah. So if I was Spanish speaking, I could choose Spanish or French for that matter.
Speaker 1 00:09:22 So how many different languages can it do?
Speaker 2 00:09:27 Well, it's really unlimited almost. Uh, but we're going to ship it in the United States to consumers, with English, Spanish, several different dialects of Spanish and French for a French Canada.
Speaker 1 00:09:46 Okay.
Speaker 2 00:09:48 Yeah. But if there's someone let's say you who speaks Vietnamese or Turkish, and they really want the phone to speak one of those languages, we can accommodate it. They could special order that voice and we could ship it with it.
Speaker 1 00:10:04 And how was the voice decided upon, do you know? Okay,
Speaker 2 00:10:09 Well, those are kind of typical voices that we selected the same types of voices that you would find on the iPhone for people who are using voiceover. So they're kind of popular voices, but the idea is to have voices that are natural and pleasant to the ear, right. So that someone who's blind and hears it all day doesn't get annoyed.
Speaker 1 00:10:34 Yes. Well, there is plenty of that with the cell phones already. Robert, what, how did you find that this, how how'd you come to this decision that something like this was needed and how needed has it been?
Speaker 2 00:10:52 I'm sorry, what was the last
Speaker 1 00:10:53 Question? How needed has it been? Like how, how popular has it been? Why, why did you decide that this was something that would do okay. And the world of many
Speaker 2 00:11:06 I'll answer the first question first, the reason we think it's needed is because we know that the large majority of people who are blind or low vision are seniors, more than two thirds of people who are blind gain their blindness over the age of 65 and many are quite a bit older than that. And they get it through eye disease like glaucoma or macular degeneration. So those seniors, at least many of them cannot learn how to use a screen reader on the iPhone or an Android device. They simply can't handle it, or they're just not interested. So we knew that there was a need for a device that simplified things that was accessible that allowed the blind user, who was a senior to go out into the city and have a mobile device that they could use. Um, in terms of demand, we just launched the phone about three weeks ago. Having said that sales are quite good, and there are quite a few government agencies that have been interested in making the phone available for free to their residents. So for example, the us department of veterans affairs makes it available for free to blind veterans. Uh, and actually recently we sold a couple of the devices to a medical center, a VA medical center in Minneapolis.
Speaker 2 00:12:58 So there's definitely a need. And by the way, in those medical centers, they're willing to give an iPhone for free to a blind vet, but the veterans are deciding that they want something simple. They don't want to learn how to use an iPhone. They're happy with Lucia.
Speaker 1 00:13:21 So what kind of feedback have you gotten on it?
Speaker 2 00:13:26 Well, consumers are just starting to get it now. Uh, so far the feedback has been very good. We always get lots of recommendations as to what additional features people want. And of course, as time passes, we'll develop the phone further and it'll have new features or improvements. So that's really what we're focused on. When we get consumer feedback,
Speaker 1 00:13:54 How did you decide what should be on there to begin with?
Speaker 2 00:13:59 Well, the, the main objective was to keep it very simple. Uh, so as an example, when we're talking about calling, uh, we make the contacts completely accessible. So the user can input their contacts. The device will speak as they're entering contacts and they can scroll through those contacts. And when they hear the name of the person they want to call, they just press the call button. So it's designed to be incredibly easy to use almost. Dummy-proof,
Speaker 4 00:14:36 I'm really
Speaker 2 00:14:40 Sorry.
Speaker 4 00:14:41 I'm in, if it's dummy-proof I'm in. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:14:44 Oh yeah, me too. So if the consumer wanted to access their Ms calls, they can do that as well. So basically every feature of the phone is accessible to someone who is blind. Do you want me to show you how you could access a missed call?
Speaker 1 00:15:03 Yes, please.
Speaker 2 00:15:05 Okay. Okay. So now I'm going to go to my menu. It just said call, which is when to access my new phone. I'm going to press that. That's what I want. Okay. So I have known him with Paul, but I have an older man, Paul, Uh, I don't want to dial Robert that's myself.
Speaker 1 00:15:53 We'd have to have a separate discussion on that one,
Speaker 2 00:15:59 But let's say I want to eco or when Robert called the phone. Okay. So you heard how I would access my Ms. Called?
Speaker 1 00:16:19 Yeah. And I think it gives a little bit better detail as far as that goes, you know, more clear, um, just kind of straightforward.
Speaker 2 00:16:31 Yes. I would say it's very easy to use.
Speaker 1 00:16:34 Is there anything that this phone does that a smartphone doesn't do?
Speaker 2 00:16:41 Well, there really isn't. I wouldn't say there's anything that it does. I think you interact with it differently. So, whereas with a smartphone you're interacting with a touch screen and with gestures here, you're pressing buttons. So it's a tactile experience as opposed to a, you know, a gesture to experience. Uh, but in terms of the actual features, there really isn't, I mean, an iPhone or an Android phone could do just about anything these days.
Speaker 1 00:17:12 Well, yes, there is that.
Speaker 2 00:17:15 Right, right. Um, but there are, you know, lots of settings that, um, someone can adjust here. There is flexibility. Uh, there's a robust alarm system. So that, for example, if the user wants to create an alarm, to remind them to take medication at 9:00 AM every morning, they can do that. Um, and the alarm wouldn't simply ring, it would say, remember to take your lipid tour.
Speaker 1 00:17:44 Yeah. So that's, so there you have something interesting because that's really hard to get the, the, I think the smartphones to do that, the alarms go off, but you don't always know unless you've remembered why you sat them. Um, can you show us what it's like to set an alarm?
Speaker 2 00:18:03 Well, let's see. So that's my alarm. Okay. That's what we want. So it's asking me what time of the day wants to set the alarm for let's say seven.
Speaker 3 00:18:42 I was 19 minutes.
Speaker 2 00:18:46 Okay. So then I would enter the minute. Um, let's just say it's 25, but I don't have to pull up. Okay. So I have to choose whether it's 7:25 AM or 7 25 Eden. Let's say it's am, Uh, let's say
Speaker 3 00:19:34 Friday the 14th.
Speaker 2 00:19:37 Okay. So here's where I would Equidate. Um, let's just say I wanted to do it today. Is today the 14th? I'm kinda locked. It's
Speaker 1 00:19:49 It's Thursday, the 13th. The 13th.
Speaker 2 00:19:53 Okay. So I guess it's suggesting that it's support from 7 25 is not going to be 7:25 AM. So that's why I'm saying it can be, it's pretty smart for a dumb phone, So I can even select a year. So let's say I want it to put it in birthdays and I wanted to remind her in 2020, I could do that
Speaker 3 00:20:38 And today.
Speaker 2 00:20:42 Okay. So it's that , let's just assume that support.
Speaker 3 00:20:47 Okay.
Speaker 2 00:20:56 Okay. So that's an example of how you would set a simple alarm. Now it's going to wake me up tomorrow morning at 7 25.
Speaker 1 00:21:04 So how do you make it say happy birthday to whomever or whatever.
Speaker 2 00:21:11 Okay.
Speaker 3 00:21:13 I'll tell you the way
Speaker 2 00:21:21 So I could repeat if you just heard that, but let's not do that now. Okay. So this is the reminders tab. This is what I would have used Pants or some tax. So this is where I use that iPad there somewhere too. Is ABC. Yes. Yep. So a long method will take me a fair amount of time to compose. Um, so let's just say I wanted the message to be, to keep it simple. Okay. I made a mistake there was supposed to be at, so let's delete.
Speaker 3 00:22:18 I'll deleted.
Speaker 2 00:22:23 There we go. That says yes. And to make sure it says, yes, I press a repeat button. So it'll speak what I'd missed tight. There we go. I'm going to select it. Okay. Yes. Okay. So that's how you would do it. So at 7 45, actually I think it was 7 25 in the morning tomorrow. I'm going to get an alarm, which rings. And it's going to say yes,
Speaker 1 00:23:09 Well then excellent. Yeah. I used to be very quick at, at entering texts that way. So I'd be old hat. That's
Speaker 2 00:23:18 Fine. But some people have lost the skill.
Speaker 1 00:23:21 Yeah. It's, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 00:23:24 Um, Lucia
Speaker 1 00:23:27 And I can still text that's right. Rather late. It occurs to me that a couple of things, uh, first of all, you know, there are, I do believe plenty of people with physical disabilities that could use something like this. And, but they may not, they may be high partials or whatever, and they may not need the voice. Can you turn off the voice?
Speaker 2 00:23:53 Yes, you can. You can turn it off quite easily. There's a button on the side of the phone that you press and hold for about three seconds and then it'll turn the speech on and on or off. And in fact, the phone is not only designed for people who are blind. Obviously the big buttons help people with dexterity issues, but they're also quite a few seniors who are hard of hearing. And one of the features that the phone has is an amplification button. So if you're in a phone call and you can't hear that, well, you want it to get quite a bit louder. You could press that button and the sound, the audio will increase quite a bit. So for those people, obviously they don't need to hear the text to speech. They don't need that voice help so they could turn it off.
Speaker 1 00:24:54 And can you enlarge the screen?
Speaker 2 00:24:58 Actually, it's already quite large, so you can't really make it any larger. And in fact, if a word is really long, so if someone's last name was past my Sargey or something like that, it would scroll across the screen because it couldn't fit entirely on the screen, given its length. So it's really quite large.
Speaker 1 00:25:28 So it sounds like, uh, government places are doing their best to assist, to buy, you know, people that need these types of phones, if they don't want to, or can't handle a smartphone I E cell phone and an Android. But what about the general consumer that might have to, or want to buy it outright? Is there a payment plan for them?
Speaker 2 00:25:55 There's not a payment plan. It costs $299 and it can be purchased from our website. Uh, but there isn't like an installment plan. And right now it's not offered by any wireless providers. So you have to get it directly from us. Interestingly, the state of Minnesota is offering it to consumers with disabilities for free. So someone with a, with a certain type of disability can call the state program and ask for the phone. Uh, it's actually being offered by the department of human services. And the program is called the telecommunity cations equipment distribution program.
Speaker 1 00:26:46 Yes, I'm familiar with them.
Speaker 2 00:26:48 Okay. And anyone with hearing loss, speech loss or a physical disability, uh, can qualify for the program and get the free device. So let's say you're blind, but you have absolutely no speech loss, uh, or a mobility disability. Then you can't get the phone, but if you have a vision disability in combination with one of those other disabilities, then you can get X. Um, there is an income qualification element as well. So if you have a family of one person and you make less than about $52,000 a year, you qualify for the program and that income amount changes based on the family size. So if you've got four people in your family and you make less than about a hundred thousand, then you qualify for the program. But if you make more than that, you do not. Even if you have a disability,
Speaker 1 00:28:04 I presume that this is, um, proven via doctor's note. Or as far as that you have a disability, you need to prove that.
Speaker 2 00:28:16 Well, that's a good question, actually. I'm not really sure.
Speaker 1 00:28:23 There we
Speaker 2 00:28:23 Go. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a requirement that it was certified by, um, a professional. Um, I'm looking at it right now on the website. It does say that there is required verification and that documentation is required showing a disability type.
Speaker 1 00:28:50 Are there any ideas, our thoughts on perhaps getting it to work with braille in the future?
Speaker 2 00:28:59 So that's a good question. So most of the people that will use this phone will be blinded later in life. And those are not the braille users.
Speaker 1 00:29:10 They do learn it. Some do learn it,
Speaker 2 00:29:13 Some do, but as it is about 10% of people who are blind, no braille. And the large majority of those are people that became blind either at birth or reasonably young, the person who becomes blind at 80 will unlock will be unlikely to learn braille.
Speaker 1 00:29:38 Well, that, that part, I would agree that I'm a braille teacher. And I would say that I have seen a lot of 50 year olds walked through my door and they, they do try to learn it. So
Speaker 2 00:29:51 Yeah, there are some, it's just a question of priorities from our point of view, right? We have a fair bit of development to do overtime. We want to improve the phone, just like apple and Samsung improve their phones and we need to prioritize,
Speaker 4 00:30:12 Does it have Bluetooth work with a person's
Speaker 1 00:30:15 Hearing aid? Charlene,
Speaker 4 00:30:18 Does it have Bluetooth that would work with a person with a hearing aid?
Speaker 2 00:30:23 So at the moment it doesn't have Bluetooth. You can use earphones or earbuds. There's a 3.5 millimeter Jack. Uh, but in the next version, there will be a Bluetooth.
Speaker 1 00:30:40 So what kind of things are you hoping to see in the future with development of Lucia?
Speaker 2 00:30:48 Well, there's a couple of items. There's one functionality that's actually really cool, which is tough to say in a very simple phone, but it is actually pretty neat. Uh, and that is we're going to offer a personalized audio. So a person's going to be able to take a hearing test and they'll the audio on the phone on Lucia will be adjusted based on the results of the hearing test. So that will significantly improve the audio or listening experience for people who are hard of hearing. Uh, the next feature that we'll be working on is speech to text or speech commands, excellent
Speaker 1 00:31:38 Voice commands. I can see a lot of those wanting to do that,
Speaker 2 00:31:42 Right. So when people text, instead of having to use that key path and learning that ABC is on number two,
Speaker 1 00:31:51 Hey, that's good. That's good brain power there. That's good brain power though.
Speaker 2 00:31:57 A good exercise. Um, so those are two features. Bluetooth is another one. Um, also there's been some recommendations that, that have a radio. So in the next version, we'll probably have a radio so they can listen to your radio station,
Speaker 4 00:32:23 Sneaking into a smartphone.
Speaker 2 00:32:27 I know, I know it's a balance.
Speaker 1 00:32:28 It's yes. It's an interesting guy. Catch 22. Isn't it? People do
Speaker 4 00:32:34 Like radio though. That's why they're listening to us
Speaker 1 00:32:37 Right now. That's right.
Speaker 2 00:32:39 So is there, Go ahead,
Speaker 1 00:32:44 Go ahead. Are you currently able to download any apps or will you in the future, do you think be able to download apps?
Speaker 2 00:32:53 No, because at least for now there's no data and we do want to keep it simple. So there's always a risk that if we add too much functionality, it'll complicate the phone and the whole purpose of the phone is to keep it simple. We're not, we're not going to take users away from the iPhone. So in terms of additional applications or functionality, the one other functionality that we might add is the ability to take notes. So someone will be able to record their shopping lists or something like that.
Speaker 1 00:33:39 Yeah. That is a, that is a good one, actually grocery list, memo type things, reminders.
Speaker 2 00:33:47 Exactly. There has been some suggestions for that. So, and since, since people who are blind, obviously have issues with writing and making lists that way, uh, a note recorder is very useful.
Speaker 1 00:34:08 So is there any thought of, um, I mean, the idea of making it, obviously you have your constrictions or restrictions of, um, you know, financial and, and disability, but I could possibly see people who just are older and don't want to deal with a smartphone and, but don't have a huge disability really. Is there any thoughts about just making it available to them eventually?
Speaker 2 00:34:46 Yeah. I mean, seniors are definitely an audience. Uh, it does have the big buttons, which most seniors, like it has the big text, which is good for people who are struggling a little bit with vision, even if they're not blind. Uh, almost, I won't say all, but a significant majority of seniors have age-related hearing loss and the amplification helps. Um, also there's an SOS, but then on the back of the phone, uh, physical SOS. But
Speaker 1 00:35:22 Ah, so if you've fallen or gotten hurt or
Speaker 2 00:35:26 Yeah, you could press the button, you hold it for about three seconds and then it cycles through up to five numbers and you designate what numbers are,
Speaker 1 00:35:40 I suppose. And also,
Speaker 2 00:35:41 It's
Speaker 1 00:35:42 Sorry, kind of like that equivalent of ice that they were promoting years ago,
Speaker 2 00:35:50 That unfortunately
Speaker 1 00:35:51 You put the word ice in front of anybody who would be your emergency contact. So if you needed to call them or, or get ahold of them, or if you were unconscious and somebody else found your phone and needed to know who to call besides nine 11, that would be in there.
Speaker 2 00:36:16 Exactly. So this is a little bit similar in that if there was an emergency, you would just press that button for about three seconds and it would cycle through those five contacts. If the first person didn't pick up, it would automatically go to the second person. Oh, well. And it's that, it's actually smart enough to know if it goes to the first person's voicemail, it knows it's not a real person and we'll go to the second person.
Speaker 1 00:36:49 So it would automatically call you and have to push anything else.
Speaker 2 00:36:56 Uh, you would not need to push anything else.
Speaker 1 00:37:02 Are there other products that Raz mobility is currently working on?
Speaker 2 00:37:09 Yes, there are actually, and most of them are much more sophisticated than Lucia. Although I've learned that the most sophisticated products aren't necessarily the most useful, uh, but an example, a product that we're working on is called voice. It it's actually really, really cool, and it translate unintelligible speech into intelligible speech. So let's say someone had a stroke or a child has autism and they can't pronounce words very well. Uh, you could speak into the smartphone. The smartphone will understand you, even if you and I couldn't, and it will translate that into standard speech.
Speaker 1 00:38:00 How does it do that?
Speaker 2 00:38:03 I'm not the engineer, I'm a lawyer.
Speaker 1 00:38:07 Oh, you protect against any legal things. That's not what she meant to say,
Speaker 2 00:38:13 But to say something.
Speaker 1 00:38:17 So there must be some kind of interesting, uh, algorithm that it does. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:38:24 It uses artificial intelligence Actually, actually Google is working on something very similar, uh, for their smart speakers. So for Google home and the Google mini, for those who are familiar with those right now, if you have non-standard speech, they won't be able to understand you neither would Alexa. Uh, but what Google is working on is to give those speakers the ability to understand non non-standard speech.
Speaker 1 00:39:01 Interesting. So how close are you to having the voice? It is that, what is
Speaker 2 00:39:07 Yes. Uh, probably by the end of the year, maybe first quarter of 2020,
Speaker 1 00:39:16 This is, um, quite a thing and actually might be a kind of a race, huh? Between you and Google because sometimes the first person out is the first person to get a lot of the recognition of doing that.
Speaker 2 00:39:31 Right? So this is, um, a little different in the sense that Google is really focused on the smart speakers and voice. It is focused on helping people with in-person communication. So if we're face to face, obviously a smart speakers have no use. So if I go to Starbucks and I want to order a cafe latte, but I have a stroke and you can't understand me, I could take out voices on my phone and communicate what I want, but Google smart speakers won't help.
Speaker 1 00:40:11 Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:40:13 Yeah. So, so right now, if you have a speech disability and you want to communicate in person, you basically have to tap images of what you want to communicate. So if you want a banana, you attach images that communicated that you wanted a banana or you type a, I want a banana and it'll speak it for you, but voice, it will allow people to use their own voice. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:40:47 So I wonder, um, I could see this being interesting with Lou Gehrig's diseases. They slowly lose the ability to speak. Um, I'm wondering what, how bad can the speech be?
Speaker 2 00:41:04 Well, that's a good question. So if someone could only say two sounds, for example, let's say they can only say, Ooh, and ah, then obviously they're limited to two words, right? Because the, the, the program can't guess what you want to say, right. But if you can speak and enunciate, let's say a hundred different words, then you could say a hundred words. So it really depends on the person.
Speaker 1 00:41:40 This will be interesting. I'm I'm I, I feel another show coming on.
Speaker 2 00:41:47 It is going to be actually interesting, uh, companies like Microsoft and Amazon aren't investing in this solution, invoice it. So, uh, it's, it'll hopefully be a real game changer.
Speaker 1 00:42:01 We'll be fascinated to know the accuracy of what gets, what the output is, as opposed to what the person's saying.
Speaker 2 00:42:11 Right? So we're, if you remember when speech to text and speech recognition generally was initially introduced, you know, maybe it had 80% accuracy level. Now we're probably at 95 plus. So it'll probably be the same for this type of solution for voice. It it'll improve as time goes also because it has artificial intelligence. It'll get better at recognizing the individual as they use the solutions.
Speaker 1 00:42:48 What other devices are you working on?
Speaker 2 00:42:52 Well, another example is a product called Sesame. It's also a very high tech type of solution. It, uh, it has, um, sex appeal, if you wish. Uh, it, it basically allows people with mobility disabilities to use a smartphone or tablet. So it uses the front facing camera, extracting your head movements and the user can control all aspects of the smartphone with their head. Essentially, a, a mouse appears on the screen and you control that mouse will your head movement. So all you need is your smartphone and your head movements, and you get full access to the device. So this would be something that would be very useful for someone that had ALS and still had movement of their head,
Speaker 1 00:43:53 Right.
Speaker 2 00:43:54 Or someone who was a quadriplegic or Ms.
Speaker 1 00:44:02 Yes. And we know people like that. Wow.
Speaker 4 00:44:06 I'm just blown away. That's there was, I've known a handful of people that could really have benefited from that.
Speaker 1 00:44:13 And how close are you with this particular product?
Speaker 2 00:44:17 It's actually on the market now and the state of Minnesota has it in their program, the equipment distribution program. So they've bought it for a number of residents with disabilities already.
Speaker 1 00:44:34 And tell us what it's called again.
Speaker 2 00:44:37 Sesame,
Speaker 1 00:44:38 Sesame, open Sesame.
Speaker 2 00:44:41 Exactly. That's how you turn it on. You say open Sesame
Speaker 1 00:44:48 And it's just the equivalent of managing pretty much a cell phone.
Speaker 2 00:44:54 Yes. If you could use it with a cell phone or a tablet.
Speaker 1 00:44:58 Wow.
Speaker 2 00:45:00 The only limitation is that it only works with Android. Oh,
Speaker 1 00:45:05 Well then
Speaker 2 00:45:08 Yeah. I phone can support it
Speaker 1 00:45:12 Really. Huh? It must mean you didn't, you didn't develop the apps their way.
Speaker 2 00:45:23 It wasn't a question of how it was developed. Apple just doesn't have the API necessary to support the development. Yeah. While Google does. Excellent.
Speaker 1 00:45:34 So what is something like that or a voice at cost?
Speaker 2 00:45:42 Well, as I mentioned for residents of Minnesota, you could actually get Sesame for free, but if you choose to pay for it, it would cost about $1,600. And that would include the software and the smartphone, um, for voice that it's not in the market yet. So I'm not sure what the prices will be.
Speaker 1 00:46:10 Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is really exciting. I think for, you know, other disabilities that have not had that freedom before, what do you w how do you see that? I mean, I mean, that's a big game changer.
Speaker 2 00:46:33 Both solutions are big game changers in particular voice that there's really never been a solution, like voice it before. So it will really change how people with speech disabilities communicate
Speaker 1 00:46:48 Presumably or doing some demo demo of the product site. People are maybe being used to try it out and see how well it works.
Speaker 2 00:47:00 It's actually being demoed all around the world. There are betas and multiple countries. There were two state programs that we worked with about a year ago to test it. Uh, those were the states of Rhode Island and New Mexico. So it is being constantly tested at this stage and refined and improved.
Speaker 1 00:47:25 How can people find out more about these products?
Speaker 2 00:47:29 I think he'd go to our website, Raz mobility.com and all of those solutions are there.
Speaker 1 00:47:36 Alright. R a Z mobility.com.
Speaker 2 00:47:42 Exactly.
Speaker 1 00:47:44 Is there anything else you'd like to leave us with in regards to this?
Speaker 2 00:47:51 I don't think so. The one thing I want to emphasize with Lucia is that every functionality in the phone is accessible for people with vision loss, uh, and that it's also very good for people with hearing loss because of the amplification. Um, and, and that's really about it. All the information's on our website.
Speaker 1 00:48:15 Thank you, Robert. We really appreciate your time tonight.
Speaker 2 00:48:19 It's my pleasure. Have a great night. I think
Speaker 1 00:48:21 You're going to be, uh, doing some really heavy competitiveness with a lot of different, big players out there. So good luck with the growth of the company.
Speaker 2 00:48:33 Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 00:48:47 The views expressed on disability and progress does not reflect the views of K F a I or its board of directors. If you want to be on the email list since salmon email look, disability and progress at Sam, jasmine.com, thoughts, disability, and
[email protected]. This is Aaron Western door on behalf of Sam, Jasmine. This was a repeat from 2019 with CEO of Raz mobility. Robert Felger. Thanks for listening. Take care.
