{"id":342644,"date":"2017-06-03T05:23:30","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T21:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1499045"},"modified":"2017-06-03T05:23:30","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T21:23:30","slug":"mit-develops-a-vibrating-wearable-to-help-people-with-visual-impairments-navigate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/mit-develops-a-vibrating-wearable-to-help-people-with-visual-impairments-navigate\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT develops a vibrating wearable to help people with visual impairments navigate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For such a simple tool, the white cane has been incredibly enduring. With all of the technological advances that have been made over the past century, we haven\u2019t come up with much better than a stick with a metal tip for helping the visually impaired get around. Though researchers at MIT have been working on a wearable solution<\/a> designed to augment and, hopefully, one day replace the cane.<\/p>\n

The system features a 3D camera with an on-board computer hung around the neck at chest level. The camera senses the location of objects, converting the signals into pulsing haptic vibrations that alert the wearer to the location of an object. The on-board motors vibrate with a variety of patterns and frequencies to signify different things, like the distance of an object.<\/p>\n

The team says the abdomen is the ideal spot for the vibrating belt, because it has the right amount of sensitivity, but doesn\u2019t interfere with other senses. Audio indications were ruled out in early testing, as visually impaired people tend to rely very heavily on their hearing. And buzzing around the head and neck, understandably, just would have been too distracting.<\/p>\n