Shiseido and Google: Braille Nails

Project Theia is an ongoing collaboration between Google and Shiseido to explore innovative ways technology and cosmetics can enhance the lives of the visually impaired. Braille Nails is the first of these explorations. Inspired by Japan’s fascination with nail art, Braille Nails combines the latest in material design and computer vision technologies to make this decorative art form more expressive and useful for the visually impaired. The Braille Nails kit consists of two parts - a set of ten distinctive nails and a companion camera-badge. The nails double as a marker, allowing the camera to track the user’s hands movements even in visually complex environments.