[Nfbc-info] Fwd: Technology In My Shoe ?

[Melissa]

Thoughts on this?
> 
> 
> A haunting black-and-white video screened during the TED Fellows talks
> depicted people speaking into a device and then walking - at first
> taking halting steps, then more confident strides. As the video unfolds,
> the camera zooms in on the faces of the walkers - revealing that they
> are blind.
> 
> With his team, TED Senior Fellow Anthony Vipin Das, an eye surgeon, has
> been developing haptic shoes that use vibration and GPS technology to
> guide the blind. This innovation - which could radically change the
> lives of the vision-impaired - has drawn the interest of the United
> States Department of Defense, which has recently shortlisted the project
> for a $2 million research grant. Anthony tells us the story behind the
> shoe.
> Tell us about the haptic shoe.
> 
> The shoe is called Le Chal, which means "take me there" in Hindi. My
> team, Anirudh Sharma and Krispian Lawrence and I, are working on a
> haptic shoe that uses GPS to guide the blind. The most difficult
> problems that the blind usually face when they navigate is orientation
> and direction, as well as obstacle detection. The shoe is in its initial
> phase of testing: We've crafted the technology down to an insole that
> can fit into any shoe and is not limited by the shape of the footwear,
> and it vibrates to guide the user. It's so intuitive that if I tap on
> your right shoulder, you will turn to your right; if I tap on your left
> shoulder, you turn to your left.
> The shoe basically guides the user on the foot on which he's supposed to
> take a turn. This is for direction. The shoe also keeps vibrating if
> you're not oriented in the direction of your initial path, and will stop
> vibrating when you're headed in the right direction. It basically brings
> the wearer back on track as we check orientation at regular intervals.
> Currently I'm conducting the first clinical study at LV Prasad Eye
> Institute in Hyderabad, India. It's very encouraging to see the kind of
> response we've had from wearers. They were so moved because it was
> probably the very first time that they had the sense of independence to
> move confidently - that the shoe was talking to them, telling them where
> to go and what to do.
> How do you tell the shoe where you want to go?
> 
> It uses GPS tracking, and we've put in smart taps: gestures that the
> shoe can learn. You tap twice, and it'll take you home. If you lift your
> heel for five seconds, the shoe might understand, "This is one of my
> favorite locations." And not just that. If a shoe detects a fall, it can
> automatically call an emergency number. Moving forward, we want to try
> to decrease the dependency on the phone and the network to a great
> extent. We hope to crowdsource maps and build up enough data to store on
> the shoe itself.
> The second phase we are working on is obstacle detection. India has got
> such a varied terrain. The shoe can detect immediate obstacles like
> stones, potholes, steps. It's not a replacement for the cane, but it's
> an additive benefit for a visually impaired person to offer a sense of
> direction and orientation.
> Are you still in the development stage?
> 
> The insole is already done. We are currently testing it. I'm using
> simple and complex paths - simple paths like a square, rectangle,
> triangle and a circle, and complex paths include a zigzag or a random
> path. Then we are going to step it up with navigation into a
> neighborhood. From there we'll develop navigation to distant locations,
> including the use of public transportation. It will be a stepwise study
> that we'll finish over the middle of this year, then go in for
> manufacturing the product.
> You're an eye doctor. How did you get involved in this?
> 
> I'm an eye surgeon who loves to step out of my box and try to see others
> who are working in similar areas of technology that are helpful for my
> patients. So Anirudh Sharma and I, we're on the same TR35 list of India
> in 2012. I said, "Dude, I think we can be doing stuff with the shoe and
> my patients. Let's see how we can refine it." There was already an
> initial prototype when he presented last year at EmTech in Bangalore.
> Anirudh teamed up with one of his friends, Krispian Lawrence of Ducere
> Technologies in Hyderabad, who is leading the development and logistics
> to get this into the market. We just formed a really cool team, and
> started working on the shoe, started testing it on our patients and
> refining the model further and further. Finally we've come to a stage
> where my patients are walking and building a bond with the shoe.
> Are these patients comfortable with the shoe?
> 
> Yes, it's totally unobtrusive. And more importantly, we are working on
> developing the first vibration language in the world for the Haptic
> Shoe. We're looking at standardizing the vibration, like Braille, which
> is multilingual. But even more crucial than the technology, the shoe is
> basically talking to the walker. How they can trust the shoe? So that's
> an angle that we are looking at. Because at the end of the day, it's the
> shoe that's guiding you to the destination. We're trying to build that
> bond between the walker and the sole.
> Building a bond with the sole. That's good. I'm going to use that.
> 
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