Tech Shout!

Experts at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed a unique set of shoes and glasses that have an embedded computer, which can locate objects within close range through echo-location followed by a vibrating warning signal that is sent to the one wearing those exclusive shoes and glasses. With this invention by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, guide dogs may soon be out of a job.

“Ultrasonic waves are sent out and when they bounce back they are interpreted by a receiver.” Research Institute of Innovative Products and Technologies director Wallace Leung Woon-fong was quoted telling the Sunday Morning Post. “Once an obstacle is detected the shoe will vibrate, perhaps increasing in intensity as the obstacle gets closer,”

“The shoe will be able to detect steps, holes in the road and obstacles within a five cm (two-inch) vertical distance,” Leung said.

The discoveries are based on the award winning “electronic bat ears” sonic glasses developed by the university’s Professor He Jufang, which use similar technology to transmit to the wearer information such as size and distance of an object.

However some visually impaired people were a little skeptical about it and expressed reservations about the inventions.

“There are so many bumps in Hong Kong’s road. If I wear the shoes I will end up shaking and vibrating all day,” the Post quoted Chow Wing-Cheung as saying.