2/23/09 meeting at Touch Graphic

Steve, Zach, Annette, Ellen, Rob (by phone), and Gene met for a status and update session at the new and improved Touch Graphic’s office space on West 38 Street for approximately 2 hours. Steve announced that we now have a 30 foot area in the office to conduct tests on a WiiCane course. Zach reported that we should have a “working system” with fairly accurate output within a month.

The following details the highlights of the meeting:
* Zach demonstrated the limited audio capacity of the Wii controller. Speech and sounds emitting from the controller are both low in dB and in quality, and speech was unintelligible. Three possible solutions were proposed: wireless headphones that could deliver high-quality speech output, directional sounds, and possibly (low frequency, higher volume) sound that could be received as vibration on the head by deafblind users; a belt-pack-system that could emit speech and sounds and vibratory (rumbler) output when prompted by the controller; a collar-neck pillow that could house an audio-vibratory device(s).and possibly ear buds. Auditory occlusion, positives and negatives for the training device, was discussed. No final selection made. Gene will investigate possible headphone devices.
* Zach demonstrated the limited but detectable vibratory output capacity of the Wii controller. The vibrations were perceptible when the controller was attached to a cane with tape. If this is used, the output would be presented when the cane is not touching a surface.
* Zach demonstrated the infrared sensing capacity of the controller. The controller camera can locate “blobs” of light sources (up to four) and display/plot them on the laptop screen. We discussed the use of a single central strip of light-emitting material on the course, versus a set of two strips defining left-right boundaries. These would be used to detect veering, and as a possible source of data to calculate other variables.
* Testing in Kalamazoo to verify the capabilities of the WiiCane system will probably occur in early June 2009. Arc width detection and veering detection will be the two variables verified. Rob is handling the IRB at WMU; the in-house IRB process is being handled by Annette and this will be delayed until after the WMU tests.

There will be an advisory board meeting soon, probably at the end of March, before an April 2009 report is due to the funder.

If attendees have corrections or additions, they would be appreciated. Likewise, questions and comments are welcomes.

Thanks…..Gene

early intervention O&M article

A recent article in the International Journal of Orientation & Mobility about “early intervention O&M” was relevant to our project. The author, from western Australia, makes several statements about the approach to children and the use of mobility canes. I do not have an electronic version to share. I’ll summarize what I think are important points from the article.
* cane techniques such as two-point touch are not introduced to children under the age of 6 because of the development of strength and motor skills
* traditional arguments against early cane use have not been found to happen in their programs (e.g., fear of injuries to others)
* keeping the cane “close to the ground” is strongly emphasized with young cane users
* the first formal technique is diagonal cane position with the correct grasp

None of this is striking or new, but I found the age information interesting.

The journal might be found in your academic libraries; I couldn’t find it in mine yet.


Scott, B. (2008). Early intervention orientation and mobility: A Western Australian persepctive. International Journal of Orientation & Mobility, 1(1), 70-72.

Wii MotionPlus coming soon

A new Nintendo Wii accessory may be worth investigation for the WiiCane project. The MotionPlus controller accessory adds additional sensing capabilities to the controller, complementing the standard 3 degrees-of-freedom accelerometer features with angular rate change sensing.

Nintendo unveiled the MotionPlus at last year's E3 and announced plans to begin shipments in 2009. See Nintendo's press release for more information.