Young Mozambican inventor bringing the blind smart 'vision'

Matola, Mozambique: When Armando Ernesto Chau straps on the futuristic smart glasses that a young Mozambican robotics student is developing in the fam...

Matola, Mozambique: When Armando Ernesto Chau straps on the futuristic smart glasses that a young Mozambican robotics student is developing in the family dining room, he has a vision of a life less confined to his modest home.

Chau is the prototype tester for Joao Antonio Rego, a 24-year-old robotics and electronic engineering student driven to provide visually impaired Mozambicans with assistance that goes beyond a simple cane.

Since he lost his sight 20 years ago, the 45-year-old father has not worked and rarely leaves his home in Matola, outside the capital Maputo.

Rego's electronic glasses -- battery-powered devices embedded with sensors that scan for obstacles ahead and emit warning vibrations -- offer the promise of new possibilities.

"It is vibrating ... it is those bushes," Chau said, demonstrating for AFP Rego's Vision Hope 0.2. "Maybe, there is a window here... yes."