![]() Practically, if I am using this stick, I will have a slightly heavy stick with a couple of gadgets attached to it, and a set of ear phones connected from the stick to my ears. The stick has a supporting rod, a control box, a handle, a free steering caster, and a horizontal scanning device, in which the free steering caster helps the whole assembly to slide two detectors in the control box and a range finder and moving object detector in the handle are arranged for trouble detection to let detected signals be converted into voice, by means of the processing through a control circuit, to instruct the user through an earphone connected to the handle.įor benefit of persons with less than ordinary skill in the art, people like me, the ordinary stick has a scanning device, a detector, and a mechanism of converting these signals into voice commands. His patent, US 5097856, claims an electronic talking stick, which will instruct a blind man to walk and go upstairs and downstairs, and warn him of dangerous depressions in the road, and which calls for help when a blind man who uses the stick falls, not an uncommon occurance. Many have tried to solve these problems, and Hsie’s invention, whose patent has now expired, is one of them. It often misses out on manholes, for which there is no dearth in India. It cannot spot top level objects such as low lying branches, etc, which are the cause for bumps on faces andī. Having said that, a simple stick has some limitations:Ī. Without it, most blind people are literally disabled. In other words, it is one irreplaceable tool, which helps a person get around. It is, simply put, the most important tool for mobility. Before we get into details, one must understand the role of a stick, or cane, in a blind man’s life. In 1991, Hsieh Chi-Sheng filed a patent for an electronic talking stick for the blind. This post was first published on 19th August, 2014.Įvery blind person aspires to live a life of independence, a life of freedom and free will, a life free from intrusion, physical and psychological. Some patented inventions have attempted to enhance this very independence, and I will, in my upcoming posts, endeavor to take an unbiased look at some of them. ![]()
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