Honours and Masters project

It is quite challenging to access to videos for people who are blind or have low vision (BLV), particularly creating audio descriptions that describe the scenes without interfering the dialogues in a video. There is also the challenge of providing additional information using multi-modal feedback, that is using non-speech audio and haptics.

Haptic ring is a wearable device that is used by people who are blind or have low vision. It provides electro-vibration feedback on different locations of users' fingers. Its primary use is to extend the user interaction with touch screens in which haptic feedback is restricted due to battery consumptions. 

In this project you will work on improving the haptic ring by investigating design improvements that will allow the device to provide more accurate feedback. We will provide support for the design and programming components of the project.

People who are blind or have low vision (BLV) access documents using screen readers such as JAWS and NVDA. These screen readers emulates a cursor moving around the screen using arrow keys or various shortcut combinations. However, this way of interaction is vey slow and not ideal for getting an overview of a document and navigating to relevant sections.

Since the 1990s, researchers have known that commonly-used public-key cryptosystems (such as RSA and Diffie-Hellman systems) could be potentially broken using efficient algorithms running on a special type of computer based on the principles of quantum mechanics, known as a quantum computer. Due to significant recent advances in quantum computing technology, this threat may become a practical reality in the coming years. To mitigate against this threat, new `post-quantum’ (a.k.a.

In this project you will work on creating a 3D printed platform used with an iPad for people who are blind or have low vision. The platform will allow people to program in the Scratch visual programming language (https://scratch.mit.edu/) using 3D printed blocks. You will program Arduino boards, print models using 3D printers, and integrate these models with an iPad.

Accessing maps is a very challenging task for people with vision impairment. Particularly, navigating a map using panning and zooming and finding information on the screen. 

In this project, you will work on understanding the important sections of a map, and finding the best ways to convey these information to people who are blind or have low vision. To do this, you will use Eye Tracking devices to track sighted people and determine the focused areas on a map. Then, you will use this knowledge to generate accessible maps for blind people.

People who are blind need to touch surfaces and materials to get information. These surfaces can be a Braille paper that has Braille text, a swell paper that has embossed shapes, and a button that is used to turn on and off a device like a TV or to open a train carriage door. Due to Covid-19, hygienic practices will be more and more important, and it will be very restrictive for people who are blind to touch surfaces in public places.

For Australians with impaired vision, accessible books are a lifeline to education and vital everyday information, and also to the independence and personal autonomy that sighted people take for granted. Yet much literature remains in an inaccessible format. 

Today's society and its organisations are becoming ever-increasingly dependent upon Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems mostly based in cloud data centres. These cloud data centres, serving as infrastructure for hosting ICT services, are consuming a large amount of electricity leading to (a) high operational costs and (b) high carbon footprint on the environment. In response to these concerns, renewable energy systems are shown to be extremely useful both in reducing dependence on finite fossil fuels and decreasing environmental impacts.

BARD: Bayesian Argumentation via Delphi [1] is a software system designed to help groups of intelligence analysts make better decisions. The software was funded by IARPA as part of the larger Crowdsourcing Evidence, Argumentation, Thinking and Evaluation (CREATE) program. The tool, developed at Monash University, uses causal Bayesian networks as underlying structured representations for argument analysis. It uses automated Delphi methods to help groups of analysts develop, improve and present their analyses.