Hi y'all,
A couple weeks ago, something came to my attention that,
if it really lives up to what they promise, could finally
be something actually innovative in electronic travel
aids.
For a while now, we've all seen that next great new thing
that will promise to reduce or even eliminate the need for
a white cane or guide dog, or so the popular press
surrounding such announcements would usually have it.
These things always had one really glaring problem. Well,
a couple of them, but one huge problem. They would detect
obstacles, but that didn't help much for things like
steps, curbs, dropoffs, holes, and terrain changes, things
that a cane, or a guide dog, alert to in the natural
course of their use. I've said that whole time that if
someone can crack that particular problem, I'd be
interested in listening, but until then, I didn't consider
any of these supposedly helpful products terribly
interesting. Especially since many of them would take up a
hand, and you're already using one of those for a cane or
guide dog.
A couple weeks ago, a startup in India started following
me on Twitter, and I started looking at what they were
doing. Oh, look, it's another electronic travel aid. But,
wait, they claim what? That you can *run* without the need
for a cane? Color me skeptical. I asked for more
information, and got it yesterday. I also called and
managed to have a chat with the CEO of the company, Live
Braille (or Embro...I see both names, but it's
livebraille.com). Here's what I've found out.
For the past year, this company has made a wearable
electronic travel aid called Live Braille Mini. Very like
other similar things, it uses sound to detect obstacles at
up to 3.5 meters away in long range mode, or 1.5 meters in
short range mode. That's close to 12 feet and about 4.5
feet, respectively. But then, it gets interesting. First,
it really is wearable, as it's a ring you wear on your
finger. I expect it's a rather large ring, but
nonetheless, a ring, massing 29 grams, or weighing just a
smidge over an ounce, according to Google. Using various
vibration patterns, they claim something like 117 distinct
patterns, and sensing at 50 times a second, the company
claims one can not only detect the distance from an above
ground obstacle, but also its speed, and even what kind of
obstacle it is, as you can get an idea of your environment
by waving your hand. There's apparently a video of a blind
kid chasing a sighted volunteer using only the Live
Braille Mini. Pretty impressive, especially for $299.
But here's the really interesting bit. I'm told a newer
product will ship in July. The Live Braille Walk Pro is
also a ring. It's smaller than the Mini, runs for two
hours on a charge, but comes with a charging case that
extends that by quite a lot. Like the mini, it uses
vibration to indicate speed, distance, etc. Unlike the
Mini, however, it uses light rather than ultrasound. This
means it's water resistant, perhaps even waterproof, and,
I'm told, the performance should not degrade over time as
a device using ultrasound would. It also will detect
ground level obstacles like steps, holes, curbs, and the
like. The cost for the new device is considerably higher,
at a retail of $1499 and a preorder price of $1199, but it
comes with insurance and a lifetime warranty, as well as a
personal setup and orientation call. "Think of it as like
buying a high end luxury car", said Mr. CEO.
So, putting my money, literally, where my mouth is, after
saying that an ETA that would detect steps and such would
be worth something, I bought one at the preorder price.
I'm the ninth person to order one, so this is pretty new.
The company tells me that there are 10,000 or so Live
Braille Minis out in the world, in the hands of blind
people inIndia, the UK, and South America.
The website is clearly not designed with a thought that
blind people might use it. There is, for example, a video
that autoplays but has no nonvisual content that's useful
to tell what it's showing, just music. There are unlabeled
graphics. There are tables used for layout. Even so, I was
able to place my order and do a bit of reading. The site
is at
http://www.livebraille.com
If you're the adventurous type and want to buy either a
Mini or preorder a Walk Pro, you can, and you can even get
a discount. There's a bit of a misprint if you select to
preorder a Walk Pro. It says the preorder price is $300 on
the radio button to select the preorder, but it corrects
in your cart to show the actual price of $1199. Payment is
through Paypal, which means you can use Paypal Credit if
you want to pay it off over time.
For $59 off the preorder of the Walk Pro, use this coupon
code:
X59HWNMSPRLV
For $29 off the purchase of a Mini (which is in current
production), use this coupon code:
X29Y86K9PRLV
If, on the other hand, you're justifiably skeptical but
are interested in what happens when it releases, I'll
definitely be sharing my experience with the Walk Pro when
it gets here.
BTW, no, I'm not planning to give up my guide dog. This
does, however, appear to be the year for technology, since
I'm also getting Aira in June, and then there are these
low cost braille displays. And also the Tap virtual
keyboard. ...
Happy travels,
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: 814-860-3194
Mobile: 814-431-0962
Email: buddy@...
