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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’t benefitted 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’s product apart visually from a standard folding cane.
The company currently offers two models: the $850 Smartcane 2 and $1,150 Smartcane+ 2. The primarily distinction between the tiers is the latter’s inclusion of a voice-controlled assistant — 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.
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.
Image Credits:Brian Heater
Parked next door on the CES showfloor, Washington State-based Glidance is much newer entrant on the scene. The startup describes its product, Glide, as an “autonomous, self-guided mobility aid” or, simply, a robot. Rather than the more standardized form factor, Glide features a handle attached to a wheeled base.
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.
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.
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Karyne Levy is the deputy managing editor of TechCrunch. Before joining TC, Karyne was deputy managing editor at Protocol, helping manage a newsroom of more than 40 people. Prior to that she was a senior producer at Scribd, an assigning editor at NerdWallet, a senior tech editor at Business Insider, and assistant managing editor at CNET, where she also hosted Rumor Has It for CNET TV. She lives outside San Francisco.
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