{"id":648747,"date":"2025-01-11T09:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T06:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/these-startups-are-making-smarter-canes-for-people-with-visual-impairments\/"},"modified":"2025-01-11T09:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T06:25:14","slug":"these-startups-are-making-smarter-canes-for-people-with-visual-impairments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/these-startups-are-making-smarter-canes-for-people-with-visual-impairments\/","title":{"rendered":"#These startups are making smarter canes for people with visual impairments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The white cane for the 21st century. While many tech companies have increasingly worked to make technology<\/a> more accessible for the blind and visually impaired, canes haven\u2019t benefited much from these advances.<\/p>\n

London-born WeWalk takes a more traditional app<\/a>roach to the white cane. Beyond the bulkier handle, not much sets the company\u2019s product apart visually from a standard folding cane.<\/p>\n

The company currently offers two models: the $850 Smartcane 2 and $1,150 Smartcane+ 2. The primary distinction between the tiers is the latter\u2019s inclusion of a voice-controlled assistant \u2014 a seemingly invaluable tool for a visually impaired person on-the-go. In addition to detecting ground-level obstacles, the system is capable of spotting potential obstacles overhead.<\/p>\n

The system connects wirelessly to an iPhone\/Android smartphone, allowing users to get walking directions directly from the cane via an onboard speaker. The buttons on the handle can also be used to interface directly with the phone, bringing a tactile experience smartphones lack.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image Credits:<\/strong>Brian Heater<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Parked next door on the CES show floor, Washington state-based Glidance<\/a> is a much newer entrant on the scene. The startup describes its product, Glide, as an \u201cautonomous, self-guided mobility aid,\u201d or, simply, a robot. Rather than the more standardized form factor, Glide features a handle attached to a wheeled base.<\/p>\n

The $1,500 system ($1,799 with an annual subscription) is currently in soft launch mode, following an initial preorder. The system features a pair of stereo-depth cameras and takes a more technically sophisticated approach. In addition to avoiding obstacles, it will alert the user when they approach a door, elevator, stair, or curb, and temporarily lock when they reach an intersection to avoid oncoming traffic.<\/p>\n

The company says a shipping product is around a year out. Glidance has raised a $1.5 million pre-seed and is currently in the process of closing a $5 million seed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The white cane for the 21st century. While many tech companies have increasingly worked to make technology more accessible for the blind and visually impaired, canes haven\u2019t benefited much from these advances. London-born WeWalk takes a more traditional approach to the white cane. Beyond the bulkier handle, not much sets the company\u2019s product apart visually…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":648748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_0891.jpeg?resize=1200,900","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[79296,151516,76502,122369,153530,153531,52711,70917,127025],"class_list":["post-648747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-accessibility","tag-biotech-health","tag-blind","tag-ces","tag-glidance","tag-glide","tag-hardware","tag-startups","tag-visually-impaired"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}