Throw away the GPS trackers on your phones or cars and be guided by your shoes! A shoe linked with your mobile app will take you home safe! Two young men from Hyderabad have unveiled world’s first interactive haptic footwear that guides people based on vibrations from shoes. The indigenous product, awaiting patent approval, is all set to hit the market next month.
“When we started the project, we conceived it for easy mobility for the visually impaired,” said Kris-pian Lawrence, CEO of Ducere Technologies. But, Mr Lawrence along with his co-founder Anirudh Sharma, decided to extend the thought to develop into a stylish footwear brand called Lechal, which literally means take me there.
When a customer starts walking, the route he has to take is conveyed through vibrations from the shoe. “A mild set of vibrations sets in before 500 m of a turn and stops at the exact point of turn,” he said.
How does it work?
An app loaded on a smartphone pairs with the footwear via Bluetooth. A user interacts with the app and can set a destination using voice controls. The phone’s GPS is then used to calculate location data and the directions are conveyed to the user via simple vibrations in the footwear.
