On Friday afternoon, Rangers announced the arrival of new technology to Ibrox via the club’s Twitter and website.
The Gers have purchased the OrCam MyEye 2 device. It’s a piece of state-of-the-art equipment which assists blind or visually impaired fans or anyone who has difficulty reading printed text.
“This is a huge step for the club towards helping blind and visually impaired fans”, Rangers Health, Safety & Access Manager, Liz Kay, told the club’s website.
“We have become the first club across all the professional leagues in the UK to purchase the OrCam device which is a ground-breaking move.”
Total Access
Furthermore, in the video, Ian White, an OrCam trainer, outlines how the technology works.
He explains that rather than tour guides describing images and reading chunks of text to visually impaired fans, OrCam can do it for them.
“By the simple motion of pointing their finger at a photograph, it will see the text and will start to read it back to the wearer through a discreet earpiece which is based at the back of the camera.”
“It’s very intuitive to use. It’s all done with touch and tap. So, every time you want to control the volume, you swipe it backward or forwards. Or if you want to take an image of someone, you just tap the camera once.”
Ian then goes on to explain that the equipment also has face recognition technology.
Therefore, if users regularly visit the stadium, they will be able to build up a base of those working there, so if they come in view of the camera, the camera can tell the wearer who is in front of them.
This is a hugely commendable initiative from the club. It’s a real indication of Rangers’ commitment to offering total access to all supporters.
It’s tough to do it justice here, so please have a watch of the video, where the stadium tour guides give their thoughts on how it will improve the Ibrox experience.
Overall though, it’s fantastic to see the club leading the way and embracing this technology. Credit where credit is due.
