[bluGill]

I looked into this years ago in college. What I discovered is there are two different problems the blind face: obstacle avoidance and navigation. Most people focus on the first, but in fact a cane works just fine, and the can also plays the useful purpose of telling everyone that I need you to pay extra attention to me because I won't avoid you (there are a lot of negatives to advertising that you are blind)

Where the blind have problems is larger scale navigation in unfamiliar places. An example is a few years ago a blind person stopped me to ask how to get to a building - we were standing right in front of it so this should be easy, but it wasn't. What I would do is jump over the flowers, duck under a railing and I'd be on the ramp. It is a good thing he knew to be suspicious when I gave him those directions or he would have got hurt. I eventually got him there, but it was a lot harder than I expected, and this is for a case where he only had a few meters to go. Imagine trying to get around a new city - most people rely on sight far too much.

[marco_trujillo]

You are completely right, thanks for pointing it out. The problem is the mobility and the orientation. The first one can be trained and the second needs external support. Orientation is being solved with Apps like Google maps and other navigation apps for outdoor and indoor spaces (blindsquare, overthere, overhere, seeing eye gps, near explorer...). Mobility though, is a hard one because of the training involved (not everyone develops the same skill) and although canes work pretty well, they are limited too. Canes won't catch upper body obstacles, won't anticipate any obstacle until you hit it when it is close enough. Sunu band doesn't intent to replace a cane, but to enhance the navigation experience for the user with a complimentary aid that provides an extra layer of information that reduces anxiety, augments spatial perception and foster the development of the users mobility skills. Thank you.