FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Touchnav: Navigational White Cane

Designed to address the inherent need for security and familiarity in visually impaired individuals, Touchnav redefines navigation assistance. Traditional aids often focus solely on obstacle detection, lacking in providing spatial and distance awareness. Touchnav bridges this gap by converting navigation paths into physical tactile feedback, enabling users to intuitively sense remaining distances and identify familiar locations, significantly reducing anxiety in unfamiliar areas.

The Touchnav's grip is fabricated from ABS plastic material through the injection moulding process, with a surface treated with metal sandblasting to enhance its texture. Its snap-fit connection structure and waterproof gasket inside the grip ensure ease of assembly, disassembly, and extended product lifespan. The lightweight aluminium alloy shaft, along with the wear-resistant PE hard plastic and 316 stainless steel tip, enhances durability, waterproofness, and anti-corrosion capabilities.

Measuring 170mm in contracted length, 30mm in width, and 33mm in height, the Touchnav extends to 1200mm. Its innovative design and technology make it a pioneering mobility assistive device, incorporating a progress bar slider and audio module to provide tactile and verbal navigation cues, enhancing users' spatial awareness and orientation abilities.

The project, initiated in Hangzhou, China, in April 2023, was completed in Macau, China, in January 2024. The design process involved extensive qualitative research on the travel issues faced by visually impaired individuals, leading to the development of Touchnav as a solution to enhance their independence and sense of security while traveling.

Jifeng Shen, Tianhao Liu, and Guanghui Huang, the masterminds behind Touchnav, have received the Bronze A' Design Award in Product Engineering and Technical Design in 2024, showcasing their exceptional talent and innovation in the design field.

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