Design Student Creates Innovative Guiding Cane For Blind

Are seeing eye dogs about to be replaced by the inventive new design of a student from Germany? If the Internation Design Excellence Awards are any indication of the aid-gadget future, this might prove to be true, but not without some howling from our furry friends. Sebastian Ritzler, of the Muthesius Academy of Art and Design in Kiel, Germany, created an interactive guiding system for the blind called Mygo that comes in the form of a cool, rolling white cane. Some would go so far as to call the design ‘flashy pimptastic.’

The cane is supposed to be tough, height-adjustable for men and women, and waterproof. But here’s the best part: It includes a system with a smart sensor and camera combo that can measure the ground area accurately in real time and pushes auditory feedback to a headset. In addition, the mini wheel at the tip of the cane has a hub motor that provides intuitive feedback through the grip, doubling as a steering engine that can last about 6 hours on a lithium-ion battery.

All this would give people an excellent maneuvering system, especially during difficult weather. So this one could replace the regular old cane that a few blind people use, but can it move into the seeing eye canine's territory? There are many reasons why the cane couldn’t fully replace the dogs but there's a really important one: Mainly, the cane won’t hug you back or lick you silly. The positive social affect of a kind service dog is likely way too important in the lives of many in the blind community.

While the device has not yet gone to production, the creator is looking at an affordable option – one estimate thrown around is about 150
Euros (about $200). The IDEA site lists a super –cheap option of about
15 Euros, but for the technology this item’s going to be packing, that’s probably a bit unrealistic. Here’s the item page from the
Business Week article detailing the Mygo.