VibroGuide utilizes Bluetooth Direction Finding and tactile technologies to augment wireless guidance of blind and visually impaired (VI) athletes. It’s intended use is for follow-me, outdoor sports like kayaking, skiing, hiking and bicycling.

Follow-Me guidance refers to a method where a blind or visually impaired athlete follows directly behind (or near) a human guide who remains vigilant for hazards and offers directional instructions. VibroGuide technology seeks to mitigate difficulties encountered with classic audible and tether guidance methods by employing a wireless connection between the guide and blind athlete.

The angle between a guide wearing a beacon and an athlete wearing the VibroGuide vest is computed and interpreted with tactile vibrations felt around the torso. This allows a blind athlete to dynamically “feel” the direction to their guide with heart-beat like pulses. The tempo of the pulses provides a relative indicator of distance to the guide. A built-in speech synthesizer announces instructions such as “right” “left” and distance to the guide and can be silenced with the press of a button.

VibroGuide Mission:

To enhance therapeutic experience in active adaptive sports. VibroGuide lowers the blind / VI athlete’s dependence on hearing and physical connections thus enabling more enjoyment of nature and ambient environment sounds. This technology reduces the need for frequent “On-Me” or audible instructions announced by the guide and opens more of the communication channel for chatting, describing the environment, attention to hazards or just quiet guiding.

Why Follow-Me Technology?

Our experience guiding outdoor adaptive sports like kayaking and skiing teaches that follow-me guidance is optimal for safety in highly dynamic environments. As well, outdoor sport venues can be far from WIFI networks, have limited cellular or satellite coverage and uneven terrain. All of this can effect the precision needed for outdoor guidance.

VibroGuide Features:

• Water and shock resistant enclosures.
• Maximum range between guide and blind athlete is about 20 meters.
• Battery life sufficient for 8 hours of continuous use.
• Easy to use. Just two buttons.
• Provides assurance to a blind athlete during operation that they are being guided every second.
• Compact size of guide beacon. Can be worn on waist, in a pocket, a backpack or fastened to a coat or life jacket.
• Lightweight and size adjustable sports vest made of breathable mesh. Can be worn over a light layer of clothing or under a ski parka or jacket.
• Ability to easily transfer VibroGuide electronics to a life jacket (PFD) fitted with vibration motors for water sports.
• Blind Athlete receives both audible and tactile alert if signal from guide beacon is broken.
• Blind Athlete can optionally enable/disable announcement of direction and distance to guide with Mode push-button.
• Blind Athlete can optionally lower intensity of vibrations felt in vest to 50% power with Mode push-button.
• Provide more outdoor sports opportunities for blind or visually impaired athletes by making the guidance job less complicated.
• Guide-Assist device (optional) provides data about direction and distance that the vest is calculating as well as stop/start movement. Also provides an alert if the beacon or vest become non-functional such as a dead battery or weak radio signal. The Guide Assist device can be worn on the guides wrist, fastened to the front deck of a kayak or on a bicycle handlebar.