Blog Post

Wearable accessible technology helps blind runner compete in marathons

Oct 28, 2020
One of our Staff members is getting very excited about the technology being developed in this article. When he’s not at work Noel is running hundreds of kilometers a year as a guide for a blind athlete from the local Achilles running club. 

New technology being developed and tested by a blind runner in the UK has allowed Simon Wheatcroft to start running by himself. He wears a Wayband on his wrist which uses super-precise GPS and directs the wearer using small vibrations. It is so accurate that it allowed Simon to line up with 50,000 other runners at the New York marathon, without a guide. 

The Wayband has set routes programmed and creates a virtual corridor. If the user steps outside of this space, the Wayband vibrates to let them know they’re off-track. It will also use vibrations to let the user know if there is turn coming up. 

At present it does not detect any obstacles on the course but Wayband are working on this technology now which will offer even more freedom to blind and visually impaired athletes.

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