Improving obstacle detection by redesign of walking canes for blind persons
| Autor: | R. Schellingerhout, R. van Grinsven, Raoul M. Bongers, Ad W. Smitsman, G.P. van Galen |
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| Rok vydání: | 2001 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Engineering Injury control Accident prevention Poison control Physical Therapy Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Human Factors and Ergonomics Social Development Blindness Humans Cane Blind persons Simulation Aged Analysis of Variance biology business.industry Equipment Design Middle Aged biology.organism_classification Self-Help Devices Cane walking Preferred walking speed Obstacle Canes Female Ergonomics business |
| Zdroj: | Ergonomics, 44, 5, pp. 513-526 Ergonomics, 44, 513-526 |
| ISSN: | 0014-0139 |
| Popis: | Item does not contain fulltext This paper describes an experiment in which the performance of cane walkers with the traditional straight long cane and a redesigned cane, the curved cane, was compared. The curved cane has a curve where the tip touches the ground. Participants were 18 experienced cane walkers who were totally blind. The aspects of cane walking that were investigated included obstacle detection, drop-off (slope) detection and walking speed. The performance with both canes was investigated in two different ways: (1) by means of constructed courses in which objective measures of cane walking were derived; and (2) by means of more qualitative measures based on the participants' experiences with the curved cane during a 3-week try-out period. Results showed that obstacle-detection was significantly better with the curved cane, whereas drop-off detection and walking speed were comparable for the two canes. The participants' experiences mirrored these results. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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