[nfb-talk] Guide Bots

[Mark Tardif]

I was part of a small group of college students who tested the sonic guide 
in the summer of 1976.  I was loaned one by our Board of Education and 
Services for the Blind next semester.  I found the same thing you did, it 
could supplement the information provided by a cane, but certainly not 
replace it.  My second semester using it, I got a call from my mobility 
instructor that they had to comphiscate the devices because apparently one 
or two of them had exploded.  I never heard anything more about it.

Mark Tardif
Nuclear arms will not hold you.
-----Original Message----- 
From: Ed Meskys
Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 9:33 PM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Guide Bots

This discussion is interesting, especially the side discussion of needing
more info than the cane gives. I became blind, instantly and totally, in
1971, and went to the Carroll Center (then called St. Paul's) near Boston
four months later. I had two hours of mobility and orientation a day for 15
weeks, and came out a fairly good cane user. I was also a beta tester for
the Sonicguide, which I really liked and made good use of. It used sonar and
had a range of 20 feet, and by stereo effect gave the direction of objects
up to 30º to either side. It was good at picking up signs and tree branches.
It picked up up curbs, but not down curbs. It was NOT a replacement for a
cane, but supplemented it, giving me a better idea of my surroundings. Pitch
told you distance, and in a hallway the near and far edges of a doorway had
a distinct chord. You could count doorways on both sides as you walked down
a corridor. A metal lamppost had a different sound from the rough bark of a
tree. When it eventually died, I looked into buying a production model,
which I tested, and which was better than my beta. Unfortunately it cost
about $2K, a very large amount in the mid-70s, so I did not buy it. It
failed because it was so expensive, and it took a hard learning curve to
master it. Also, my primary mobility tool is a dog guide, so that removed
some of the need for it. However I still wish I could have afforded it at
the time.

Ed Meskys


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