UPWr student on a mission to improve the safety of visually impaired people

The project of an interactive cane for the blind and visually impaired is the subject of Artur Salamon's engineering thesis. It will be created under the supervision of Prof. Katarzyna Pentoś.

The security engineering student hopes that the prototype that he’s building, will become a base for further, future endeavors to help increase the safety of the blind or visually impaired. – I’m sure that it will be useful in the everyday life of people who have a problem with their eyesight – says Artur Salamon, adding that the idea to create an interactive cane was born two years ago, when he helped a blind person to get to a tram stop.

– I realized then, what problems blind people have as pedestrians and how many threats they face. Unfortunately, in large cities such as Wrocław, there are many obstacles that can turn out to be dangerous. For example, electric scooters scattered around the city – he explains.

A cane packed with sensors

The student is at the stage of building a prototype of the device. He points out that he’s already purchased all the necessary materials and has a finished blueprint, which shows how many electronic elements the cane will be equipped with. It will have distance sensors, and vibration motors placed in the handle, which will signal the detection of an obstacle. The variable strength of the vibrations in the handle will allow a person to estimate the distance of the detected obstacle.

The cane will also automatically turn on red signaling diodes after dark and will be equipped with a "blue light" system (it will emit a clear blue light on the ground, which aims to draw attention to a blind person). 

– Nowadays, while walking, most of us focus our attention on our phones rather than looking at our surroundings. Because the light is directed at the ground, the system will make us pay attention to a person holding a cane, because we’ll see the light with our peripheral vision, thus increasing their safety – says the UPWr student, emphasizing, that for him, one of the most important factors of building the cane is using inexpensive components, so that eanyone can afford to buy it.

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