Ariadne – Guiding Rod

Ariadné Cane

Innovative Blind Guiding System

WHY

Navigating across large spaces is an everyday challenge for the visually impaired. Getting around packed and crowded unequipped areas, i.e. supermarkets or hospitals, makes routine tasks more difficult.

WHO

We are a group of engineers from the Óbuda University in Budapest, Hungary, who aimed at helping the visually challenged people feel safer and more mobile.

WHAT

Our electronic guidance system guides the user through a given space, much like the string in Greek mythology that Ariadne gave Theseus to lead him out of the labyrinth.

HOW

ARIADNÉ contains two key elements: a strip to-be-placed on the walking surface and an electronic cane that senses the strip. The user navigates oneself by audible or vibration signals transmitted by the cane that passes over the strip.

What is Ariadné

The ARIADNÉ guiding system, or “A-bot”, enables visually challenged people to find their way around similarly to a traditional white cane. The key difference between the two is in the sensor and the built-in electronics of the “A-bot”.

The electronic circuitry located at the tip of the ARIADNÉ cane detects the road and the special guiding strip attached to the road. With this cane, people can follow the lane using traditional panning movements. When the end of the cane passes over the ARIADNÉ guide area, it emits a detectable signal, a sound or a vibration.

Indoors & Outdoors

ARIADNÉ is suitable for assisting movement in interiors, public institutions and workplaces, as well as outdoors thanks to combining a tradition manual white cane features with a special guiding strip sensor.

Navigating with an “A-bot” in places where you can find your way based on the terrain of the route is the same as navigating with a traditional guide cane.

An information mediator can be a curb or a wall edge, but it can also be a ridge on a pavement surface. Where no terrain features are present, e.g. in a wide corridor or a hallway, a guide strip (guide track) and a cane sensor are used. The strip will be provided at the time of installation.

Cane Dispenser

The ARIADNÉ guide system was designed for use in interiors with large open spaces, such as lobbies, halls or corridors. These spaces are typically located in public institutions, hospitals, health care facilities, department stores and shopping centres.

In such places, we offer visually challenged people to use our electronic white cane instead of their own. ARIADNÉ canes can be borrowed for a visit at the reception desk (gate) of the area or at an automatic cane dispenser (presented on the right). The latter enables easy pick-up/drop-off of the cane without any additional assistance.

Flexible Guide Strip

The design of the guide strip is independent of the paving material. It can be installed on ceramic, plastic, laminate flooring or traditional wooden parquet.

The guide strip can be also be glued on top of the existing flooring. The advantage of this solution is that the marked route is clearly visible to people without sight impairment, so that no obstacles, such as promotional materials or decorative plants, are placed on the route for any future use.

It also offers the advantage of being easily modifiable and therefore, does not require a significant construction investment, when rebuilding or relocating. The

guide strip can be placed beneath the pavement during construction. In this case, it will not be visible and will not affect the aesthetics of an interior space.

Main characteristics

• light weight
ARIADNÉ is the same size and weight as the white cane

• familiar physical navigation
cane’s tip is equipped with a roller ball to facilitate panning
movements

• adjustability
audio signalling and vibration are easily adjustable

• easy recharge
electronics are powered by a wirelessly charged battery

• visibility
the entire cane has a reflective coating

• customizable guiding strip
the guiding strip can be permanently fixed to the flooring or installed to avoid obstacles, and several parallel strips can be used to indicate potential hazards

• crossroads indicated
junctions are marked by a Y, X and T-shaped patterns, which are indicated to the user through the cane by sound or vibration

• audio navigation
at junctions, the system can provide the user with audible text information about the available directions and their main characteristics, to help find the best way more easily

Press about us

Get in Touch

Our goal is to make Ariadné system available to a wider audience. Our team is open to suggestions for press or social media coverage of the product, collaboration or distribution offers.

For these matters, as well as price quotations, more detailed user instructions and any other requests, please fill out the form on the right, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Let’s aim at accessibility together!