[nabs-l] NFBJI Research Collaboration: Sunu Band

Sat Dec 12 04:02:31 UTC 2015

Hi,
From my understanding, it is a vibrating wristband.
Cullen 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 11, 2015, at 10:49 PM, justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> What does it do?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Roper, Meaghan
> via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 10:47 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Roper, Meaghan <ropermeaghan at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] NFBJI Research Collaboration: Sunu Band
> 
> Hey everyone,
> 
> I've been Beta testing this wrist band for months. I highly reccomend if. 
> 
> Meaghan 
> 
> Meaghan Roper
> Earl Center for Learning
> And Innovation
> ECA Associate
> Admissions Ambassador for Wheelock College President of Wheelock Student
> Theater Wheelock College Class of 2018 ropermeaghan at gmail.com
> 781-315-2720
> 
>>> On Dec 11, 2015, at 8:58 PM, Lewis, Anil via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>> 
>> National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute Research 
>> Collaboration: Sunu Band 
>> https://nfb.org/blog/atblog/national-federation-blind-jernigan-institu
>> te-research-collaboration-sunu-band
>> Blog Date:
>> Friday, December 11, 2015
>> By Amy Mason
>> The National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute leads the quest to
> understand the real problems of blindness and to develop innovative
> education, technologies, products, and services that help the world's blind
> to achieve greater independence. Many technology developers have the best
> intensions when designing that great next product for the blind.
> Unfortunately they do not include blind people in the process. We strongly
> encourage developers of innovative nonvisual access technologies to work
> with us during the design and development phase. By leveraging the expertise
> and the life experience of the independent blind with the engineering
> expertise of these developers of next generation technologies, the result is
> an innovative, more useful product for the blind.
>> Last year we began just such a collaborative relationship with a startup
> by the name of UStraap. In 2014, we were contacted by one of the project's
> creators, Marco Trujillo, and asked to look at his prototype device. Our
> initial impressions can be seen in a previous AT Blog post about the
> USTRAAP<https://nfb.org/blog/atblog/ustraap-system>. To paraphrase, at that
> time, we believed that the device had promise, and we were excited to see
> where it was going to go. It has indeed undergone several iterations of
> changes after extensive testing with blind people, and now goes by the name
> of Sunu.
>> In this post we want to share a bit of our interactions with the creators
> of the Sunu to provide a peak into the workings of the Access Technology
> Team and how we assist manufacturers in providing useful tools to blind
> consumers. The following is a brief description and critique of the Sunu
> Band by Sunu, and a sample of the feedback we were able to provide to the
> developers. In order to maintain the integrity of their intellectual
> property, we are only able to provide examples of questions and suggestions
> that demonstrate, in a small way, the benefit of our collaboration.
>> The Sunu Band
>> By Sunu
>> Sunu describes the Sunu Band as a smart-bracelet that uses sonar
> "look-ahead" technology, empowering mobility and independence for people
> living with impaired vision by helping improve awareness, orientation, and
> mobility, which can be used with other aids. The Sunu Band is a wearable
> bracelet with a sonar sensor, two buttons on the watch face, and an
> adjustable wristband. The device provides haptic feedback about surroundings
> to the user. You simply point or scan with the sensor on the device, and the
> closer you come to a person or object, the more intense the vibrations on
> your wrist become. There is also a separate Sunu Tag that can be used as a
> locator device for easily misplaced items. The tag will beep, and the
> wristband vibrates faster as the two come closer, "rather like a game of
> 'hot or cold' with a prize of rediscovering your missing keys." There are
> promises of leveraging app integration to create enhanced functionality, and
> add other features. The one that has already been implemented well enough to
> be tried by our team is a vibrating watch feature, similar to that offered
> by the Meteor Vibrating Pocket Watch. We will discuss each of these three
> features in turn, including our thoughts on how to improve the
> functionality, and finish with information on where you can go to get your
> hands on the device if it piques your interest.
>> Navigational Aid
>> The Sunu Band started life as merely a navigational aid intended to
> provide additional information to cane and dog guide users. As such, this is
> still the heart of the device and its functionality. The band uses sonar
> waves to gather information about the user's surroundings and conveys
> information on how near the user is to an obstacle by vibrating with
> increasing frequency as the user nears it. It offers both an outdoor and an
> indoor navigation mode. Indoor mode uses a narrower band and a shorter range
> in order to provide more detailed information when a user is in more crowded
> settings, and may be moving more slowly. In our testing, we found that the
> Sunu may be useful in a number of indoor and outdoor situations including:
>> *    Simulating shore-lining technique. For instance, indoors, a user
> could use the band to search across the hall for openings where the hall
> turns or open doors. Outdoors, it could be used to search for bus shelters,
> entrance alcoves for businesses, or other open spaces.
>> *    Following people in a line. By pointing the band at a person in front
> of the user in line, they can feel the change in vibrational pattern as the
> line moves up, without having to search as often for that person with the
> tip of the cane.
>> *    Detecting objects at head height. By angling the wrist just a little,
> it was possible for our testers to discover tree branches and other
> obstacles that might offer a nasty shock to the traveler.
>> It is rather clever in that it provides to cane users some of the
> foreknowledge of more distant objects enjoyed by dog users, and allows dog
> users to gather information about the obstacles they are maneuvering around
> with their guide.
>> Sunu states, "It is easy to learn within minutes." So we put this
> assertion to the test. Several staff members took the Sunu Band through some
> basic mobility scenarios. For some the indoor navigation functionality of
> the device took a little time to acclimate to, while others picked it up
> very intuitively. In discussions with the developers, they state that
> although you can learn to operate the device in minutes, it does take more
> time to master its use. We are hopeful that there are opportunities in the
> future for us to assist with the development of additional training
> materials. Our opinion is that it would be a helpful device for individuals
> to use as a complement to good orientation and mobility skills training.
>> Of course, when evaluating technologies that provide nonvisual
> information, there is always a tricky balance between how much is too much
> information. This is complicated by the fact that what is considered too
> much information for some may be considered too little information for
> others. This is why we definitely appreciate the ability to put the Sunu
> Band in sleep mode with ease.
>> The one area of concern with the band as a navigational tool that we noted
> at this time is that it is easily covered by the sleeve of a winter coat,
> and may not be as useful in the colder months outdoors.
>> Sunu Locator Tag
>> The tag is a pretty simple concept. A user places the tag on or in a bag,
> luggage, keys, or other easily-misplaced object. When the user wishes to
> locate the item, they can either use the wristband or the intended
> smartphone app to trigger the tag and follow the vibrations of the wristband
> or audible tones from the tag to help reunite them with their wandering
> belonging. The additional ability to use the vibrations on the band will
> hopefully make it possible for a user to silence the tag and find the item
> in question without alerting others in the area to the search.
>> We have been providing on-going support in the development of this
> technology and were pleased that some improvements have already been made.
> For example, the Sunu Tag is a much nicer size and shape than the original
> design, and also works well in our testing with the Sunu Band. We are
> looking forward to the integration with the app and Bluetooth, which should
> give it slightly longer range.
>> Timekeeping
>> As previously mentioned, the Sunu Band, although referred to as a
> bracelet, also tells time, like a watch. The original method of obtaining
> the time was deemed by our testers as a little too conspicuous. We
> emphasized that many people want to check the time in class, or in a boring
> meeting, and not let others know they are counting down the minutes.
> Although this was also input the developers received from others, we were
> able to give some additional useful feedback on some suggested alternative
> methods of checking the time.
>> We are hopeful that with app integration, alarms may also be included in
> the device, as the Sunu would prove to be a nicely inconspicuous way to keep
> track of upcoming appointments, and might even provide an alternative to a
> loudly buzzing alarm clock.
>> Design and Other Thoughts
>> We found the wireless charging feature of the device to be an interesting
> alternative to the more familiar USB chargers being used by most
> technologies. We expressed our disappointment that, in the beta unit, there
> was no non-visual indication that the products are actually charging. They
> informed us that they have a strategy for dealing with this in the final
> version. Moreover, they consulted us on using USB as an alternative option
> for charging the device. Using USB to directly charge the device may be more
> familiar to most users and may be more secure, because it is less likely the
> device will be knocked off its charger. However, USB seems like a possible
> point of malfunction due to plugging and unplugging the device. USB Micro
> just doesn't seem very sturdy and the charging disk would be unplugged a lot
> less often than the band, which would minimize the wear and tear on the band
> itself.
>> In our discussions with Marco, we learned that the folks from Sunu are
> hoping to add more features via their smartphone app, including some which
> may work with iBeacon and indoor navigation technology. We are very
> interested to see what may come of these discussions, and will continue to
> provide our guidance to the team at Sunu as they continue creating this very
> versatile and interesting piece of technology.
>> Final Thoughts
>> "Tested and validated" is Sunu's current claim. As the oldest, largest
> organization of the blind in the United States, the National Federation of
> the Blind is pleased that we are being afforded the opportunity to test and
> aid in the development of the product. We can validate that it is an
> innovative piece of access technology with great potential. We are hopeful
> that the Sunu Band technology will be integrated into one of the emerging
> navigation technologies we are identifying through our NFB Indoor Navigation
> Challenge<https://nfb.org/blog/atblog/national-federation-blind-indoor-navig
> ation-challenge-0>.
>> We make sure that technology developers understand that it is important
> that any wearable technology is both functional and stylish. The prototype
> of the Sunu Band has a wristband that can be sized fairly easily, and we
> found the to be a very simple and elegant solution.
>> Sunu informs us that the design of the final product will be even better.
> All in all, we cannot wait to see the final product, and with the advent of
> app and possible beacon integration, we are really quite excited by what the
> future holds for the Sunu Band.
>> For more information about the Sunu Band, visit http://sunu.io/ or their
> Indiegogo campaign. The intended retail price for the band and one tag is
> planned to be $250. During the campaign, the band and tag combo is available
> at a discounted price of $199, and for this weekend they are planning to
> offer a special package with the band only at $70.
>> To suggest other products in development for review, please email
> jerniganinstitute at nfb.org<mailto:jerniganinstitute at nfb.org>.
>> 
>> Media Share
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>> nu-band&t=National+Federation+of+the+Blind+Jernigan+Institute++Researc
>> h+Collaboration%3A+Sunu+Band> 
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