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

[Frida Aizenman]

Not all of us live in Sunny California. What will happen during a snow 
storm? LOL and more LOL.

Frida

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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