An illuminated, multi-function cane for use by low-vision individuals is described and claimed. The device's various pulsating lights enable low-vision people to travel at night with assured confidence that they will be seen by drivers and cyclists from a safe distance exceeding one mile on a dark street! While at a high traffic lit city intersection the Lumi cane is very noticeable with its strobing rainbow lights 200 yards away, even with competition from other bright artificial lights. Even in dense fog Lumi's LED lights are visible at 40 to 75 yards distance.

There is provided a processing unit that includes a direction decision unit and a guide information generation unit. The direction decision unit determines a direction in which a person who behaves without a sense of sight walks. The guide information generation unit generates guide information for the person who behaves without the sense of sight to walk in the determined direction. The present technology is applicable, for example, to a smartphone or the like used by the person who behaves without the sense of sight.

There is provided a processing unit that includes a direction decision unit and a guide information generation unit. The direction decision unit determines a direction in which a person who behaves without a sense of sight walks. The guide information generation unit generates guide information for the person who behaves without the sense of sight to walk in the determined direction. The present technology is applicable, for example, to a smartphone or the like used by the person who behaves without the sense of sight.

A health hazards geolocation control system for monitoring potential health hazards (PHHs) endangering users using the system for detecting PHHs endangering them, for example a pedestrian, wherein the system may include a personal health hazards monitoring system having an image capturing and processing units, and wherein the image sensor is situated in the vicinity of the user, for example, by wearing it or is flown by a drone associated with that system. Upon detecting a PHH the system warns the user to prevent their fall. The geolocation control system, or similar systems of, may be by the user or other users, to form a pool of health hazards and associated score. Thus, other users on that location may be warned of the reported health hazard. The system may advise a user which is the safest path to walk, having a minimal, level or number of PHHs, and highest safety score.

The robotic cane will follow the markings on roads and pavements with hunter green and black colored thermoplastic paint, thereby ensuring the mobility of blind people. It will enable to monitor heath conditions of the individuals, track the locations of the individuals, alert individuals about obstructions along the pathways, and has a voice-activated app to control the functionalities of the cane. This will eliminate the use of expensive tactile paving, thereby, providing simple and cost-effective solution for blind people to navigate both indoor and outdoor environments.

Multipurpose tactile warning panels for use in pedestrian walkways, and in particular tactile warning panels that are designed and built with multifunction/multipurpose capabilities that serve the visually impaired and enable the deployment of smart city technology by integrating tactile warning systems and subsurface enclosures that can withstand pressures of five (5) tons up to and exceeding sixty (60) tons and incorporate small cells, beacons, sensors, Fog Computing, electric energy generation, rechargeable power supplies, wireless M2M communication and a plethora of other smart city technologies.

A method for providing information to a user, preferably including: determining environmental information; determining a set of features based on the information; determining output parameters based on the features; and controlling a sensory output system to generate outputs based on the output parameters. A sensory output device, preferably including a plurality of sensory output actuators. A system for providing information to a user, preferably including one or more: sensory output devices, sensors, and computing systems.

A portable environment sensing device is described which comprises at least one time-of-flight sensor capable of detecting the distances from the time-of-flight sensor to at least two features within the field of view of the time-of-flight sensor simultaneously. The portable environment sensing device further comprises a processing unit capable of converting the at least two measured distances into at least two different distance signals, where each distance signal is correlated with the corresponding measured distance, and an output interface providing the at least two distance signals to a user simultaneously.

The technology disclosed herein includes a navigation system for a visually impaired person. The navigation system may include a plurality of fixtures, a plurality of installations, wherein each installation is electronically connected to a fixture, and an electronic device, the electronic device configured to receive auditory or tactile signals from each installation and produce a signal indicative of a fixture location.

Methods, systems, and products estimate distances to aid a visually impaired user of a mobile device. As the user carries the mobile device, a camera in the mobile device captures images of a walking cane. The images of the walking cane are analyzed to infer a distance between a tip of the walking cane and the mobile device. The distance may then be used by navigational tools to aid the visually impaired user.