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

Sat Mar 12 03:08:25 UTC 2016

I didn't see the price, can someone share again?

Original message:
> 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

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