Smart walking stick for the visually impaired

2023: Product Announcement

In late January 2023, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder unveiled a smart cane that can help blind or visually impaired people navigate the environment, ranging from grocery shopping to finding a place in a busy cafe.

The system uses cameras to visualize the environment and items within it, such as supermarket products, and uses AI to identify objects and provide guidance to the user. The smart cane can provide verbal and tactile clues to help the user get close to the right item on the supermarket shelf, for example. Researchers hope the technology will help visually impaired people gain greater independence when doing everyday tasks.

Smart walking stick for the visually impaired

The user can indicate that the technology helps him solve a certain problem, for example, finding a free table in a restaurant. Other apps include identifying certain products on a supermarket shelf, allowing users to choose purchases.

In order to understand whether a smart cane helps the blind, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder in late 2022 made a test cafe in their laboratory with several chairs, visitors and several obstacles. The experiment showed promising results: the subjects were able to find the desired chair in 10 out of 12 attempts of different levels of difficulty.

Another experiment tested the cane's ability to search for and select products in store aisles filled with dozens of look-and-feel items. The laboratory again created an artificial environment by supplying a food shelf with several types of cereal. Participants in the experience used a cane to scan the shelf. The device assigned points to objects, choosing the most necessary product, after which it voiced commands like "I ask you to move a little to the left!"^[1]

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