marco_trujillo

Awesome! thanks for sharing.

Brilliant idea. Daniel Kish has a patent on a similar device that clicks at an audible frequency, you can adjust the clicking rate, power and pitch (different pitch provides different information).

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.

Thanks for jumping in. In fact one of the founders is Visually Impaired. Fernando is a tremendous asset to Sunu, he has a Ph.D. in Physics by Harvard, has built two successful companies before Sunu and is one of the smartest, hard-worker and good persons I know.

Woow, that was a long discussion for a peculiar observation. To be honest I didn't clearly understand what the observation was at the beginning, I did feel it was pointing some sort of incoherence in my reply although I didn't know what it is exactly, and from all your reply's its evident everyone understand something a little different, so... it doesn't really "says it all". Yes, I am from Mexico and we don't have a problem saying "Visually Impaired" (they don't have a problem either), in Mexico we say "Ciego" for blind but people who want to be gentle say "Invidente" which means "no vidente" which can be understand as "not seer" or "no clairvoyant" which is funny and not accurate. In summary, this is not racism, is a medical term for a real condition. It doesn't makes sense to be gentle, embracing the disability is important for adaptation, starting from the term. This is my market, this is the people I love and I want to encourage to be active, the term is just a term, the product and my work spent over the years does says it all.

Great feedback. It is proven (Adelson E. & Fraiberg, 1974) that sighted children need directed reaching (approaching, touching, feeling) to connect the visual system to movement. The same happens for echolocation, the user needs to "confirm" what he is hearing by touching it in order to establish a relationship between sound and space. Unfortunately, as you mention, many children are being limited by their parents in the process of developing this association, ultimately blocking the activation of the visual cortex and depraving the kid to develop spatial perception (which is fundamental to develop other skills). We have tried the device with kids, although it takes a time to train them, when they understand what they are feeling they start to run everywere to explore the sensation. The band has worked so far as a catalizer of exploration, but we are also in the process of developing scientific data with our current partnerships to prove that this device can accelerate the time it takes for a blind person to develop echolocation skills as well as to remove initial barriers in the process of learning the skill (fear).

Thanks for the straight feedback and sharing the accessibility tool. Agree we have to work the accessibility for Low Vision (constrasts, rezicing, colors). For now it seems to be working very well for people using screen readers. We are also enhancing it on the go with feedback from people who find new things. Thanks

Thanks for sharing. We have heard this too, in fact many visually impaired I've talked to are skeptical initially. Can't blame them since after many attempts to develop an Electronic Travel Aids (ETA) there was not a good product people love. It is also true that many blind people feel comfortable with their condition, specially if the have good echolocation skills. That doesn't mean they won't appreciate a good product when it arrives, but more like they embraced the problem as part of their lives and aren't looking for a mobility solution (that's usually the case for people who born blind or have been living blind for over 20 years). But that's not the case for the vast majority, people losing sight or people who recently lost it are actively looking solutions. Is matter of digging and finding, there is a lot of variants when it comes to disabilities, definitively a hard puzzle to solve (I've been connecting pieces for over 3 years) but very rewarding.

Hi Maneesh, good to find you here! your wearable is stunning too, we should catch up soon. Cheers

Sure, range and sensitivity can be adjusted from the App, maximum ratings are 5 meters and 35° angle at the sound cone. So at two meters you would be able to detect head level obstacles with no problem. To improve the receptivity you can also slightly bend your elbow to give a little angle to your forearm and aim the band slightly up, that will catch even the ceiling of your room, fortunately the IMU permits us to understand the position you are aiming and trim the sound cone only to cover areas that represent a hazard, trying to drag attention of the user only with needed.

Thanks for sharing, haven't heard of it. I see they teach to Deaf and Blind (and both) so definitively a fit. Thanks!

We are also exploring other specialized channels with good response so far: - Sunu band is currently being prescribe at NECO Center for Eye Care in Boston as it is proving to be a catalizer in the rehab process of patients who lost their sight. - We are about to start trials with O&Ms (Orientation and Mobility Specialists) from the board of AERBVI (Asociation for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired) to prove the effectiveness of the product to be a complimentary mobility aid and a maximizer in the process of developing O&M skills.

Sure, main difference from previous products are: - Form factor: prior devices couldn't get this small, most devices were heavy, obtrusive (mostly hand held), noisy and not precise (haptic actuators weren't miniaturized and optimized as today are). Making it wearable allows the user to rely on it only when they need it and in way that doesn't stick out or represent a hard task for them to do. - Connectivity: probable the most powerful factor, none of the previous was a connected device isolating the device for future improvements and fixing the way it works for most of the users. Visually Impaired come in different variants so people have very different navigation challenges depending on the condition behind their impairment (e.g. some have light perception, some have minimum peripheral vision or only central vision, etc), so customization is key. Connectivity permits the device to be prescribed as the user needs besides from allowing us to gather data and enhance the technology constantly so it becomes each time more useful. In general previous products had a "once fit all" approach in an inconvenient design. There still a few of these devices out there but with low user adoption.

Thanks for note I'll update my profile. My email is [email protected] you can also find about us at sunu.io