THE ability of bats to navigate in the dark is the inspiration behind a high-tech white cane for blind people.
Bats use echo location to fly and hunt in the dark, emitting a high-pitched sound and listening for the returning echoes. By calculating how quickly the echoes return they can sense where objects are and avoid them.

Researchers at Leeds University realised that this process could be used to help blind people to navigate busy streets and developed a “batcane” along the same principles.

The cane emits bursts of high-frequency sounds inaudible to the human ear; sensors in the cane feed the information gathered from the echoes back to a computer chip stored in the handle. Any nearby obstacle will cause the vibration of one of four pads in the handle, for left, right, in front and above. As the object gets nearer the vibration speeds up.

The inventors at Leeds have set up a company to market the cane, and prototypes are being tested, mainly in America by the American Council for the Blind, because the organisation has the biggest world membership. It could be on sale by the end of this year.

“The traditional white cane works by the blind person sweeping and tapping it in front of them, but it misses a lot,” said Andrew Diston, project leader at Cambridge Consultants.

“If they walked down a street they could quite easily bang into an overhanging For Sale sign, because the cane can’t pick up items above the person, or things on the other side that the cane is sweeping.”
The device has been welcomed by the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association who said, however, that it would not replace a guide dog. The RNIB said that the cane looked promising. “We want to encourage any new technology which makes life easier for Britain’s two million sight impaired,” a spokesman said.

Bats Inspire New Cane for the Blind
Reuters Thu Feb 28, 6:06 PM ET

By Laura MacInnis

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists said on Thursday they had created a cane inspired by bats to help blind and partially sighted people find their stride.

Bats manoeuvre easily by bouncing high-pitched sounds off nearby objects in a process called "echolocation."

Researchers at Britain's Leeds University used this as the model for their so-called "Batcane," which emits sonar waves inaudible to the human ear to help users detect obstacles ahead, around or even above them. Any nearby object triggers a vibration in one of four pads in the cane's plastic handle. As the object gets nearer, the vibration speeds up.

"They will be warned of objects that are just beyond the reach of the conventional white cane," said Andrew Diston of Cambridge Consultants Ltd, which has developed the cane in conjunction with Sound Foresight Ltd.

Diston said the Batcane would help visually impaired people create a "mind map" of their environment and so encourage independent mobility, particularly in cities.

"There are large numbers of blind people who, as their sight degrades, are confined more and more to their homes," he said. "This will enable people to venture outside, and could generally improve their quality of life."

The Batcane is expected to hit the market in late 2002.

Diston said user trials were underway in Britain, the United States, Canada and Germany, with prototypes to be tested by groups such as Guide Dogs for the Blind and the American Council for the Blind.

The Batcane would be marketed for both blind and visually impaired people. "Obviously it won't suit everyone but there's a big market out there," he added.

There are 1.4 million people registered as blind in Britain alone, according to Guide Dogs for the Blind.