Context
working-age people in the UK with at-least partial visual impairment have collided with an obstacle outside in the last three months.
Why this happens:
- Limited Awareness with Traditional Tools — Walking sticks cannot fully capture the detailed spatial information needed for safe navigation in diverse settings, and are limited at sensing physical boundaries.
- Complex Environments — The increasing complexity of modern environments demands a more sophisticated approach to understanding environments.
- Lack of Blind-Friendly Infrastructure — Many urban public spaces lack features to support visually impaired individuals, such as tactile paving and audible signals at crosswalks.
Fundamentally, smart canes require walkers to “scan” the environment like a radar, because they only show what’s within a small area in front of them.
They rely on cues to warn walkers of possible collisions, but do not indicate the shape of the object.