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

Sat Mar 12 05:46:18 UTC 2016

Dar,
	If you read through the print out, the price is about $250.00, with
an early purchast of about $198.00 I think.
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

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of d m gina via
Nfbmt
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2016 6:52 PM
To: nfbmt at nfbnet.org
Cc: d m gina
Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] Sunu Band Blog

I wonder what the price is, as well as i would be willing to try one.
Now I wonder how you can hear it over traffic.

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-navigati
> on-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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--
--Dar
skype: dmgina23
  FB: dmgina
www.twitter.com/dmgina
every saint has a past
every sinner has a future

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