This short article describes the REACT System designed by GEC-Marconi to a specification produced by the Royal National Institute for the Blind. The aim of the system is to help visually handicapped people to use ticket machines, card entry machines and electronic displays giving travel information, etc. The system operates as a "remote activator" system. The user carries a small electronic card. When the user comes within about 5 metres of a machine adapted for use with the REACT System, an interrogator unit is triggered. This interrogator unit can be used to switch on either a speech or a sound box, which can then provide the user with relevant information, including operating instructions for the machine in question. The first evaluation site of the system was Great Portland street underground station. Two REACT interrogator boxes and two sound boxes were installed to assist users in locating one entrance and one exit gate. Each sound box transmitted a different message to indicate the location of the gate and the type of gate it was. The speech units are capable of transmitting a message of approximately one minute of speech, with a trade off between sound quality and speech length.
Abstract