SKT Exhibits 'Barrier-Free AI' at Busan World Disabled Games

SK Telecom announced on the 6th that it will operate an exhibition hall showcasing three artificial intelligence (AI) services for people with disabilities at the ‘1st Busan World Disabled Games’ held at BEXCO, Busan, from the 7th to the 10th.

SKT will exhibit the Sullivan Service X SKT AI, G-eye Plus X VLAM, and AI Developmental Disability Care. Advanced barrier-free AI technologies that add convenience to the lives of people with disabilities will be demonstrated in front of visitors from around the world attending the event. Additionally, SKT will participate in the ‘New Digital Connection’ session as a panelist discussing ‘ICT Policy and Disability Inclusion’ related to barrier-free initiatives.

A visually impaired person using the SullivanA app to check the text content on booklets, receipts, and business cards
[Photo by SKT]

At the exhibition’s ‘Sullivan Service X SKT AI’ corner, the AI visual assistance voice guidance services ‘Sullivan Plus’ and ‘Sullivan A’ will be introduced. These services were developed by the social venture Tuat and enhanced by SKT’s voice recognition and vision AI technologies.

‘Sullivan Plus’ allows visually impaired and low-vision users to capture objects or spaces with their smartphone cameras, recognizing people, text, objects, colors, and more, then providing voice feedback. ‘Sullivan A’ is an app service that improves work efficiency for visually impaired users by reading or summarizing various document formats based on learned document structures, recognizing business cards to send emails or connect calls, among other functions.

SKT and Tuat received the Glomo Award at MWC 22 for ‘Sullivan Plus’ and earned the CES Innovation Award at CES 2023 for exhibiting ‘Sullivan A.’

‘G-eye Plus X VLAM’ is a high-precision location-based navigation system for the visually impaired, developed jointly by LBS Tech and SKT, applying the positioning AI technology ‘VLAM’ (AI spatial mapping and image technology combined with sensor fusion precision positioning technology to accurately determine coordinates). By pressing the camera button on a smartphone and rotating half a turn, the user’s current location can be measured with an average error of 1 meter, allowing visually impaired users to receive precise guidance on movement location and direction right up to building entrances or access points.

‘AI Developmental Disability Care’ is a service where AI performs the time- and labor-intensive ‘behavior observation tasks’ to support the mitigation of challenging behaviors in individuals with developmental disabilities. Since ‘AI Developmental Disability Care’ records, analyzes, and provides long-term data on the severity, frequency, timing, and causes of challenging behaviors, professionals can focus on their core duties such as planning and implementing support for people with developmental disabilities.

At the SK Telecom exhibition booth, performances by artists with disabilities will be held twice daily. From the 7th, performances will be held sequentially each day by Go Ara, a hearing-impaired ballerina from Parastar Entertainment; S-Boys, a hearing-impaired idol group; Kim Bo-hee, a visually impaired cellist; and Jung Eun-hye, a developmental disability painter.

Um Jong-hwan, head of SK Telecom’s ESG Alliance, stated, “Through this event, we plan to showcase Korea’s barrier-free AI technologies and services to a global audience. SKT will continue to strive to ensure that the benefits of technological advancements are delivered to socially vulnerable groups.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.