Story:
Manhattan (5/15/2010) - Instructors at the Jewish Guild for the Blind on the Upper West Side have found a new use for Wii technology. They are testing out a new device called the "WiiCane" to see if it can help improve mobility training and use of the regular cane in young children.
One of the biggest challenges for blind people is trying to learn how to walk in a straight line. Blind people tend to stray either to the left or to the right when they are walking. They have to be trained to stay straight. The WiiCane helps with this training. The WiiCane beeps when the blind person stays straight.
"One of the greatest challenges for an [orientation and mobility] instructor, which I am, is trying to teach a student to travel and walk outdoors in a safe line, in a straight line. And one of the greatest issues is to try to prevent the students from veering which means angling left, or right off their straight line," says Stuart Filan of the Jewish Guild for the Blind. "So the WiiCane is like a super idea. It's a great indoor training device to have our students get the feeling of what it feels like to veer and how, independently, in real time, to correct that situation."
The training tool is being developed by the New York City-based design team Touch Graphics. It uses Wii motion-tracking technology to help students get the feel for not only walking in a straight line, but practice turns. A computer receives movement data and dings if the student remains on track or moves in the right direction.
Questions:
1) Where did this story take place?
2) When did this story take place?
3) What does the WiiCane do?
4) What school is using this technology?
5) What company is developing the technology?
Info from NY1
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