A device developed in India has the potential of giving people with near or total blindness more freedom and independence in their lives by acting like a personal radar.

Snapping on to the top of a blind person's cane, the SmartCane sends out ultrasonic pulses to detect nearby obstacles above the level of the knee or hanging down from overhead. When the walker gets too close, the SmartCane starts to vibrate as an alert. Different proximities generate different kinds of vibration, giving the user spatial awareness.

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Initially a student project, the SmartCane was developed by the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. The mechanism costs about $50 and differs from other more expensive models by being removable. If a cane breaks, the user can put the SmartCane on a replacement.

Users also report they can walk faster and with more confidence, when they had moved only very tentatively previously.

"It feels great to be able to move around alone. I no more need to hold anyone's hand for my mobility," says user Indirani Sankari of Mumbai. "I can just be myself. Family and friends now have the confidence in me that I can travel independently without getting hurt or injured." 

The SmartCane became available this year in March. Fastening onto the top of the cane as a supplemental grip, the SmartCane has a range of over 9 feet when used outside, and almost six feet indoors. It can detect objects smaller than two inches wide. An individual charge lasts up to 10 hours. 

Even with canes, the blind often find themselves bumping into objects as well as people, causing at the very least a measure of embarrassment. many blind people in India must depend on family members to guide them from place to place safely. Even then, run-ins are inevitable, given the country's infamously bustling urban environments.

TagsSmartCane, Indian Institute of Technology, blind, blindness, ultrasonic