(PRESS RELEASE) JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — OrCam Technologies, a global leader in personal, empowering AI-driven tech innovations, announced that OrCam Read, a first-of-its-kind, handheld digital reader that instantly reads text aloud from any printed surface or digital screen, has been named by TIME to its prestigious list of the 100 Best Inventions of 2021. (See TIME’s feature on OrCam Read here).
To assemble the 2021 TIME Best Inventions list, TIME solicited nominations across a variety of categories from editors and correspondents around the world, as well as through an online application process. Each contender was then evaluated on key factors, including originality, creativity, efficacy, ambition and impact, resulting in “100 ground-breaking inventions that are making the world better, smarter and even more fun.”
“We are truly honored that TIME has distinguished the OrCam Read device as one of the Best Inventions of 2021,” said Prof. Amnon Shashua, OrCam Technologies Co-founder and Co-Chairman. “We deeply appreciate TIME’s recognition of our handheld technology’s innovation as a breakthrough reading solution with the ability to transform people’s lives. OrCam’s mission from day one has been to pioneer computer vision and personal AI technologies that function as ‘AI as a companion’. OrCam Read directly, easily, and positively impacts the learning process and overall quality of life of students and adults of all ages who have reading challenges, including dyslexia.”
Launched in 2020, OrCam Read [explanatory video] is a highly advanced, AI-driven assistive technology that is packed into an easy-to-use, personal handheld device with a singular purpose: to meaningfully empower the user who is challenged by reading – including those with dyslexia, dyspraxia, mild to moderate low vision and reading fatigue – to read anything, regardless of their condition. Featuring intuitive point-and-click operation, the lightweight OrCam Read is the first and only personal AI reader that is able to instantly capture full pages of text and screens using precision laser targeting – without any display screen, app, or cloud connectivity.
With the OrCam Read solution, users instantly and independently hear any printed and even screen-based text read out loud, with the simple press of a button.
OrCam Technologies is globally awarded for its highly advanced, AI-driven OrCam MyEye and OrCam Read solutions – which pack easy-to-use, innovative tech into wearable and handheld assistive technology platforms that significantly empower tens of thousands of users worldwide. OrCam MyEye, designed for blind and visually impaired people, was chosen as a TIME Magazine Best Invention of 2019 and in early 2021, OrCam Read was recognized as an EdTech Awards 2021 Cool Tool Finalist as well as a winner of a CES 2021 Best of Innovation Award.