Sparkling Science projects present themselves at “Innovation Forum 2025”

“Smart Sport Assistance” and “Sinnvoll Aktiv” are being carried out at the University of Vienna under the direction of Prof. Dr. Arnold Baca. The projects are concerned with breaking down barriers for visually impaired people in the area of exercise and sport.

In both research projects, students work together with experts to develop assistance systems that enable or simplify physical activity for people with visual impairments or blindness. The prototypes of these systems are tested and continuously improved together with those affected.

In addition to the partner schools of the projects (HTL Leonding and the TGM), scientific cooperation partners from Warsaw (“The Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education”) and Southern Denmark (“University of Southern Denmark”) were part of the event.

One specific example of a developed assistance system that was presented at the innovation forum is the “Goalfinder”, developed by HTL Leonding. This device is attached to the basketball hoop and helps visually impaired people to locate the hoop acoustically. A built-in metronome emits different sounds for hits on the board and in the basket. An accompanying app also evaluates the points scored.

“Goalfinder” is just one of several prototypes that have been developed as part of the Sparkling Science projects. The aim is to further develop these assistance systems so that they will be available to the general public in the future.