Two African inventors working independently have invented wearable guides for the blind — one worn inside a shoe and the other inside the ear — that use sound to help blind people navigate, according to a SciDev.Net report in AfricanBrains.

One of the devices could be produced for as little as $150, suggesting the technology might become a realistic option for blind people from poor economic situations, the report said.

The shoe device called GuideMe was invented by Algerian Badreddine Zebbiche. The design, which is yet to be fully developed into a working product, uses 3D sensors fitted to
each side of the wearer’s shoes to detect obstacles. When this happens, the system sends a
warning to a smartphone app which gives the user instructions such as “turn left.”

In October, Zebbiche won the 2013 Technology Idea competition, run by a partnership of the Global Innovation through Science & Technology (GIST) initiative to encourage start-ups.

The competition looks for new entrepreneurs in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Turkey and supports them with training, mentoring, networking and funding.

Ovidiu Bujorean, who manages GIST, said Zebbiche’s designs “really tried to solve a real problem and that is basically a key criteria for our competition.”

“We do a lot of outreach for competitions. We reach a lot of people around the world and allow them to learn about the opportunity to participate,” he said.

Bujorean said he realizes entrepreneurs and academics from wealthier countries are already developing devices similar to GuideMe. Not all of them will be successful. “It’s good when there are a few of them… It’s survival of the fittest.”

Zebbiche agreed: “I believe that, in the field of entrepreneurship, similar products from different manufacturers means competition.”

Nigerian rival

A similar device, termed a “wearable obstacle detection system” emerged from labs in
Nigeria in 2013.

Adebimpe Obembe, a medical rehab researcher at Obafemi Awolowo University, was among the authors of a paper describing the device in the journal Technology and Disability.

“This is the first of its kind in Nigeria and, to the best of our knowledge, Africa,” he told SciDev.Net.

The system uses ultrasound to detect obstacles on the floor and then sends a radio signal to a headpiece. This has an earpiece to provide feedback that helps users gauge their distance
from obstacles: the closer the obstacle, the louder the sound, SciDev.Net reports.

Until now, most similar devices were expensive, complicated and not wearable, Obembe said. “The advantage of our system is its small size, low cost and (lack of) wearable constraints.”

A system test showed that the beeping pattern allowed users to avoid collision
by navigating around obstacles with minimal training, according to the paper.

But the device was unable to detect moving obstacles and its range is just four metres. This
“must be extended to enable the user to move freely in the outdoor environment”, according to B. Amutha, a professor of computer science and engineering at SRM University in India.

Philippe Truillet, who works on human-computer interaction at the University of Toulouse,
France, said Obembe’s system “seems to be a good baseline for future work.” It would add to, rather than replace, blind people’s navigational tools. “This is not really intended to replace the guide dog,” he said.

The initial design will cost about $150, Obembe said. “We are still working on
it to make it more compact.”