Bangalore-Based Engineer Invents Haptic Shoe to Guide the Blind
By Kahuwa Jyoti Das, SiliconIndia | Monday, 19 September 2011, 17:42 IST
The user should have the 'Le Chal' shoe and a mobile phone with global positioning system (GPS). User has to speak the final destination before starting his journey through an Android App or his Desktop, which are in Sync. The maps data from Google maps is fetched and a turn by turn direction to the destination is loaded within the shoe. When the user starts his or her journey, the GPS transmitter gets the location using Google Maps. On turning points, a vibration feedback, activated in the shoe indicates his direction of turn. The length of vibration depends upon the overall proximity from the destination that is weak vibrations in the beginning and incrementally longer at the end of the navigation task.
Answering the question what motivated him to make the shoe he said "I noticed that most navigational aids for blinds are obtrusive and had complicated interfaces; likewise, a sound/voice based aid is going to distract them".
