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Humans with intelligence, teaching machines how to meet the needs of people with disabilities
Welcome to the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Aid (LAIMA) at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)!
In Brazil, there are more than 45 million people with some type of disability, approximately 25% of the country’s population. Of the people with disabilities, there are over 6 million people with significant vision loss and more than 500,000 are totally blind. They come from all cultures and all walks of life. They are children who do not have access to a basic primary education; they are teenagers who are blind and who do not have adequate access to cultural or leisure activities; they are adults who are blind and do not have adequate employment opportunities; and they are senior citizens who are blind and do not have a decent quality of life.
This is not due to their disability. Rather, it stems from a deeply rooted societal issue that continues to devalue its citizens with disabilities.
As a result of apathy and benign neglect, people who have physical, mental, sensory or intellectual disabilities have also been denied access even to the most ordinary goods and essential services. Equally detrimental to the disability community is the ignorance of the scientific and technical community with respect to the obstacles faced by people with disabilities.
Now that you know the facts, what are you going to do about it? You are not going to turn your back and pretend you have nothing to do with it, are you? You will not argue that you do not have time or that you need to worry about other issues rather than “those people”, are you? No, now is the time for you to roll up your sleevs and get to work!!
Take action, join us!
The primary mission of the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Aid (LAIMA) is to develop digital, software and hardware technology to facilitate equality of conditions and access to healthcare, education, culture, leisure and work for people with disabilities.
Are you interested? Partner with us!
If you are a software engineer, a programmer, a front or back-end developer; if you study or are interested in artificial intelligence, augmented reality, mixed reality, machine learning, deep learning, or data science, you can join us in the development and implementation of solutions and in the quest for new assistive resources.
If you are an engineer or technician and you are interested in or work with electrical, electronic or mechanical automation; if you work with video, photography and sound, LAIMA is the right place for you.
Professionals and students of Human and Exact areas
If you work with mathematics, statistics, information science or data collection; if you are a professional or student of language, communication, sociology, anthropology or psychology, and you are interested in putting your knowledge to work, you will find a place full of opportunities at LAIMA.
Always come back to this page for more information!