Dr. John-Ross Rizzo and his team at tech start-up Tactile Navigation Tools (TNT) have created a series of products that include wearable devices to aid the visually impaired.
The Deyenamic is a wearable t-shirt and smart-cane combo that uses sensors and emitters to detect and report obstacles within the user’s path. The cane is equipped with a LiDAR laser, an ultrasound emitter, and an infrared sensor that identifies any peripheral obstructions and communicates these hurdles to the t-shirt. The t-shirt, using electro-active polymers, then signals the user through vibrations sent to the region of the t-shirt the obstruction is closest to.
The CumbaCane is the same smart-cane used in the Deyenamic, minus all the sensors and emitters. The reversed-umbrella design extends the reach of the traditional white cane with a fan shape of arms around the user. With a static central cane, the additional arms roll on wheels that work with a suspension system to allow the user to detect slight terrain changes like a crack in the sidewalk or the corner of a wall.
Visual impairment is not exclusive to people with medical disorders, however, TNT also offers the Eyeronman, a hands free device that holds all the technology of the Deyenamic in one wearable vest. With the Eyeronman, a fireman in a smoke filled room can safely navigate to a victim using the vest’s 360 degree obstacle detection range and communication system.
As an active and mobile person with choroideremia, a disorder that causes progressive vision loss, Dr. Rizzo aimed to update the century old white cane with wearable devices that use modern technology.
Source: http://www.webelowwear.com/wwblog/tag/eyeronman/
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