Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Blind Engineer Invents A ‘Smart Cane’ That Uses Google Maps To Help Blind People Navigate (boredpanda.com)
submitted by antdude
cartertemm 8 points 3y ago
cool idea and concept, but another out of how many? It isn't like this hasn't been tried more than a couple times, and essentially everyone I know still insists on the white stick.
Pessimism aside, I do believe innovation in the field is a must. My only problem here is the presence of a builtin Voice assistant with speakers. This slightly limits us in regard to location, plus the presence of a cane or dog is enough to provoke unwanted attention. Now imagine loudly talking cane and dog?
Pessimism aside, I do believe innovation in the field is a must. My only problem here is the presence of a builtin Voice assistant with speakers. This slightly limits us in regard to location, plus the presence of a cane or dog is enough to provoke unwanted attention. Now imagine loudly talking cane and dog?
Laser_Lens_4 3 points 3y ago
The biggest thing here is the weight. The cane is already putting enough strain on your wrist as is. Adding batteries, a processor, a heat sink, and all the other stuff you need is just going to make it heavier. I don't know maybe you could make the cane out of carbon fiber or something but the extra cost might not be worth the slightly reduced weight over graphite which is already pretty light.
Edit: also I don't feel like spending hundreds of dollars on a cane which will inevitably get beat up and break eventually. I'm scraping the thing against concrete and banging it into walls and poles. It's not going to last forever.
Edit: also I don't feel like spending hundreds of dollars on a cane which will inevitably get beat up and break eventually. I'm scraping the thing against concrete and banging it into walls and poles. It's not going to last forever.
impablomations 2 points 3y ago
> Now imagine loudly talking cane and dog?
It connects via bluetooth to an earphone
It connects via bluetooth to an earphone
[deleted] 7 points 3y ago
[deleted]
impablomations 1 points 3y ago
> Stick a bunch of expensive electronics in that and suddenly it's 10x the cost of some of the most expensive "standard" white canes on the market and a lot more fragile.
From what I can tell, it attaches to your regular white stick
From what I can tell, it attaches to your regular white stick
FrankenGretchen 3 points 3y ago
Navigation apps are designed for vehicle mobility. I've found Waze to be the most willing to accept that I'm moving, albeit very slowly because I'm not in a car when I'm using it for directions and it doesn't have a 'foot power' mode. None of them do. Another reality is these apps are for streets not sidewalks so I64 is a valid route for the app, but not us. Local streets without sidewalks or curb cuts or traffic lights would be problematic on a daily basis and far less obvious than interstates. They also have serious trouble with someone walking against traffic or through parks. Likewise, I'd be trepidatious of an app that said "Hey! Shortcut through Central Park!"
razzretina 5 points 3y ago
BlindSquare is a walking app with us directly in mind. They’re currently working on expanding it to give more details about your surroundings like curbs and sidewalk obstacles.
FrankenGretchen 1 points 3y ago
Yay! Thank you for the tip!
impablomations 4 points 3y ago
Google maps does have a walking mode though. I use it fairly often.
FrankenGretchen 1 points 3y ago
Good to know. I'll adjust my settings.
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