Enhanced Guiding Device for the Blind - Virtual Cane (Yissum)
Many sight- impaired people are unwilling to use white canes to assist them in moving around – only 10% of blind people in the United States use canes - either because they are embarrassed or because they are afraid of causing a disturbance or injury to other people.
Using a cane only provides information about the surroundings up to 20 cm above the floor and in a radius of just over one meter from the person
Visually impaired people participating in trials with the device have been very excited.Sensors in a small mobile device provide accurate information about distances from objects in the user's immediate environment relayed through vibrations or sound.The sensors may be embedded in a cane to provide added confidence.
Sensors may be incorporated into a hand-held mobile device about half the size of a cell phone or similar to an MP3 player.
Augments user's ability to estimate the distance and shape of the objects within and outside their personal space.
Signals associated with each direction are distinguishable from signals associated with other directionsSeeking partners and funding to develop device, possibly providing them to visually impaired in Israel as beta site for other countries
About 314 million people are visually impaired worldwide, 45 million of them are blind.
10-2010-2556
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