ABYS(Always By Your Side): A Virtual Assistant for Visually Impaired Persons

Visually impaired persons do not have either a perfect or near-perfect vision. That's why they face so many problems in their day-to-day tasks. In this work, we reviewed the current state-of-the-art in assistive technology using voice recognition and developed a voice-controlled desktop application model on Microsoft Windows platform especially for the visually impaired persons to reduce their hassle for using a computer and accessing home appliances. In addition, even non visually impaired people can also use the facilities provided by the application and use it as a virtual-assistant. The application is user-independent and human voice commands are given to the application in English Language. This application model enables the user to control installed applications, send and receive e-mails or perform internet browsing. The model is also capable of reading a news portal and also allows the users accessing their home appliances over voice commands.