Researcher invents fabric to help blind people navigate more easily

Balkis built, after two years of research, a fabric that contains sensors that identify obstacles and vibrate or give other signals to help the blind person navigate around them, according to the researcher. The fabric is placed in the insoles of the users’ shoes.

“As I was a textile specialist. I developed electronic sensors inside ‘smart fabrics’ that could be put into the shoes’ insoles so that they will be lightweight and inexpensive. The university is supposed to provide people to help us during the exams so we can dictate our answers to them. But they often miss the exams’ dates or come late, which creates a great psychological strain on us. Unfortunately, most public universities do not have enough advanced tools to facilitate disabled students’ education, most of whom are forced to drop out”, she explained.

This research is part of an international movement toward creating special fabrics to enable the users to get information.

The researcher was awarded a grant by the Canadian nonprofit Mitacs to join the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and work with the team so she can further develop her idea.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2JLiVwa