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

[Brandon Keith Biggs]

That's pretty awesome!
I won't need to carry around a PDA to use a GPS if I'm lost...
Also, this has the potential to do a lot more than guiding people as a 
simple GPS.
I could see it telling people where yucky stuff is, helping people 
remember where stepping stones or other places are if they are hiking or 
what not. Things the cane can do but often times is too busy doing other 
things to really give a good idea of what is around.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs

On 10/7/2013 10:26 PM, Melissa wrote:
> 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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