[Nfbmt] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] Sunu Band Blog

Sat Mar 12 01:48:50 UTC 2016

Hi Ted and all,

This is certainly a different mobility aid from what I mentioned but it 
certainly sounds promising especially for the price!

Jim

Original message:
> This is the product I was talking about in our meeting tonight.

>                 I apologize if I mis directed or confused anyone.

> Ted

> EDWARD C "TED" ROBBINS

> , CEO MBEI, Treasurer NFB of Montana & MANAGER MAB EQUIPMENT PROGRAM

> PHONE & FAX:  406 453 6678, CELL:  406 799 6268

> 104 RIVERVIEW 5 E

> GREAT FALLS  MT   59404

> From: Nfbnet-members-list [mailto:nfbnet-members-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of David Andrews via Nfbnet-members-list
> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2015 12:55 PM
> To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Sunu Band Blog

> National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute Research Collaboration:
> Sunu Band

> Submitted by mjones on Fri, 12/11/2015 - 16:48

> 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-navigation-cha
> llenge-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.

> David Andrews and Long White Cane Harry

> dandrews at visi.com or david.andrews at nfbnet.org

> Twitter:  @dandrews920

> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> _______________________________________________
> Nfbmt mailing list
> Nfbmt at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmt_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfbmt:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmt_nfbnet.org/jkaldrich%40samobile.net