Researchers at the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder have been developing “a new kind of walking stick for people who are blind or visually impaired.” This “smart” walking stick could potentially help people with vision loss “navigate tasks in a world designed for sighted people – from shopping for a box of cereal at the grocery store to picking a private place to sit in a crowded cafeteria.” In their study, subjects wore a backpack containing a laptop computer while carrying the walking stick. A camera attached to the cane handle connected to “algorithms running inside the laptop” to identify features in the room and calculate the route to “an ideal seat.” Similarly, for grocery shopping, the team created a database of product photos into software that would be used to “scan the shelf, searching for the product they (customers) wanted.” These innovations are currently being refined and it will be some time before this walking stick is commercially available. “’The researchers also hope their preliminary results will inspire other engineers to rethink what robotics and AI are capable of.” Shivendra Agrawal, a doctoral student in the CU Department of Computer Science who is involved in the project, stated that “’Our aim is to make this technology mature but also attract other researchers into this field of assistive robotics…We think assistive robotics has the potential to change the world.’” Learn more about by reading the CU Boulder article explaining that the ‘Smart’ walking stick could help visually impaired with groceries, finding a seat and from the ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) piece on Developing a Walking Stick for the Visually Impaired.
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