Issues in Travel Aid Design

Abstract

I wish to comment on several basic issues of design for mobility aids for the blind pedestrian. It may be constructive, to begin with, to consider a nonelectronic travel aid, the long cane. The long cane is, by far, the best inanimate travel aid we know anything about. What could be the reason for the success of a tool as simple as the cane? I propose that, although the cane’s field of view is limited, and although it does not afford enough perceptual anticipation (1), it does examine the surface over which the pedestrian will soon walk, and that pedestrians who have advance notice of surface features have a substantial portion of the information they need for safe travel. In other words, the cane works in part because it looks where the information is. This, then, should be a guiding principle in travel aid design.