Mata - Safe Navigation for the Visually Impaired
Mata is an assistive navigation device that turns the space in front of a person into clear, spoken guidance: what's there, and how far away it is. Built to work without a smartphone, GPS, or an internet connection.
Mata is in active development. Figures on this page reflect published research and the current state of the prototype, not clinical or user-validated outcomes.
Mata means "eye" in Tagalog. 🇵ðŸ‡
The problem
More than two million people in the UK live with sight loss, and over a million of them have irreversible sight loss from conditions such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic eye disease. As the population ages, that number is set to grow substantially. For most, getting around safely and independently is the real challenge.
- 2M+
- People in the UK are living with sight loss, over one million of them irreversibly. Source: RNIB, Key statistics on sight loss in the UK
- 1 in 5
- People aged 75 and over are already living with sight loss. Source: same RNIB page above.
- £28bn
- Estimated yearly cost of sight loss and blindness to the UK economy. Source: RNIB, Economic impact of sight loss and blindness
- Cost & complexity
- Among the biggest barriers stopping blind and partially sighted people adopting assistive technology, alongside age. Source: RNIB, Sight loss and technology
Existing navigation aids (smartphone apps and dedicated devices alike) tend to share the same weak points: high cost, dependence on a strong GPS or data signal, fiddly interfaces, and unreliable performance outdoors. Those weak points fall hardest on older users and people on lower incomes, which happen to be the groups most likely to be affected by sight loss in the first place.
Mission
Our mission is to make confident, independent navigation available at a cost and reliability level that institutions like the NHS and local authorities can provide at scale, not just individuals who can pay for it.
Approach
- Reliable
- Distance to obstacles comes from dedicated LiDAR sensing rather than camera estimation alone, so readings hold up in poor light, glare, and reflective surfaces.
- Autonomous
- Mata runs entirely on-device. No phone pairing, no GPS lock, no signal required. It keeps working underground, in a stairwell, or anywhere connectivity can't be guaranteed.
- Simple
- The audio output says two things: what's ahead, and how far away it is. Nothing else competes for a user's attention while they're trying to walk safely.
- Affordable
- Built on accessible, widely available hardware components, keeping unit cost low enough for institutional procurement at scale rather than premium individual retail.
Current status
The core detection and audio pipeline works in software. The current focus is bringing those components together into a single wearable unit, ahead of real-world testing with visually impaired participants.
Get involved
If you work in assistive technology, sensory impairment services, or NHS procurement, or if you're a researcher, funder, or potential user testing partner, we'd like to hear from you.