http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/ Engadget Comments for Tactile Wand concept aims to aid the visually impaired http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/Mar 7th 2008 2:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/Mar 7th 2008 3:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/Mar 7th 2008 3:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/Mar 7th 2008 9:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/Mar 7th 2008 4:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/
Gets relayed to the user in the form of varying levels of vibration.

No indication of it actually moving beyond the concept stage.

Sold!]]>Mar 7th 2008 5:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/
Of course, the clacking stick and the attention it attracts do serve as a warning for other pedestrians to be careful around the blind person, which is good for safety. However I don't know if most blind people would prefer the safety or the privacy of just blending in. I'm sure some would prefer to just blend in.

The question is: without the clacking stick swinging around, other pedestrians on a busy sidewalk would no doubt walk closer to the person using this. Can this device handle a bunch of feet and knees passing by without sending confusing haptic feedback to the user? I'm sure there's a way to deal with that, but I imagine that would be one of the engineering challenges.]]>Mar 7th 2008 1:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/Mar 7th 2008 2:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/07/tactile-wand-concept-aims-to-aid-the-visually-impaired/Mar 8th 2008 10:17PM