New Haptic Wearable Device. Lechal is a haptic footwear and insoles which was driven to help the visually-impaired navigate their world better. In Hindi, Lechal means take me there. The footwear includes sensors, small actuators and electronic inside the soles that allows it to connect with smartphone via Bluetooth. The user interfaces with an application equipped with the local map on the phone via voice commands. http://www.store.lechal.com
Showing posts with label best fitness tracker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best fitness tracker. Show all posts
Technology is beautiful, especially when it comes to the aid of the
differently abled. For instance, with LeChal, visually impaired people
can travel anywhere without guidance from others. LeChal is basically a
smart shoe that harnesses the visually challenged’s heightened senses of
touch. It enables them to travel by themselves with the help of
vibrational patterns on their feet. This haptic-driven smart shoe has
been produced by Secunderabad-based Ducere Technologies.
How a thought took shape
The LeChal packageBack
in 2012, Krispian Lawrence and Anirudh Sharma, two tinkerers with the
common objective to help the visually challenged, came up with the idea
of a smart shoe. The fact that the visually challenged are gifted with
heightened senses of touch and hearing became their basis for designing
something that could intuitively guide the user through gentle vibratory
feedback by connecting to the directions set on a map. The thought
process started in May 2012. In July of the same year, Sharma went ahead
for further education, while Lawrence drove the project. The product
was ready in 2016 and called ‘LeChal.’
“LeChal
as a concept came about as a solution to allowing one’s senses to be
utilised in the most efficient way. The thought led to identifying how
to help the visually impaired to navigate in a way that their sense of
touch (walking stick) or their sense of hearing (audio guidance) are not
compromised,” explains Lawrence. The first shipment of the product was
made in July 2016. The four years in between were utilised for
development, prototyping and upgradations to bring out what LeChal is
today.
Against all odds
Being a hardware product start-up,
Ducere Technologies faced challenges different from software developers
and service providers, in addition to the pressure of venturing into an
unexplored field. The hardware ecosystem is not conducive for startups
in India. So, putting together a team of people with compatible talent
and ready to work for a startup project took much effort. Adding to the
troubles was limited funding. The project was bootstrapped until it
received angel funds. Despite all these hardships, the company has grown
to become 120-employee strong today and drives sales through its own
website as well as online and offline retail partners.
Team LeChal
How LeChal works
Before
getting into the basics of LeChal, let’s first explain in simple words
how haptic technologies work. Haptic technologies take data from a
source and use tactile (touch-based) sensors to respond to it in the
form of vibrations or touch-based sensations on the user. LeChal follows
this basic principle to work.
LeChal has three iterations: the
complete shoe form, a pair of insoles with a pair of sensor pods, and
only the pods. The pods contain the main haptic sensors. These can
either be buckled to the existing shoe-laces of the user or inserted
into the insoles provided by LeChal that replace the existing insoles of
the user’s shoes. The sensors connect to the user’s smartphone via
Bluetooth. Users need to download the LeChal mobile application on their
smartphone or tablet. The application provides a GPS (map) interface to
set the desired destination via touchscreen or even via voice command,
powered by the LeChal assist service. It connects to the
Bluetooth-linked pods and relays data to generate haptic sensations.
The
pods feed the navigation data in real time as the user starts
travelling, and send signals in the form of various vibratory patterns
to indicate directions of travel. For example, gentle vibrations on the
left leg imply left turn and vibrations on the right leg imply right
turn. Vibration patterns can be customised as per the convenience of the
user.
Most importantly, maps can be downloaded and saved to the
phone or tablet before use and the connection is Bluetooth driven (as
mentioned before), so there is no problem of poor network connectivity
or data unavailability.
How LeChal works
Expanding horizons
Initially
aimed for the visually challenged, LeChal is finding other consumers as
well. Lawrence states, “At this point, along with the visually
challenged, our product has proven to be appealing to people who travel a
lot. Fitness enthusiasts also show a keen interest in the product
because of the extremely accurate measurement of fitness metrics. Last
but not the least, we have managed to captivate the imagination of
technophiles as well.”
The product has caught the eyes of
enterprises also, collaborating with brands like Netherlands-based Hi
Tec., and won acclaims and awards at global level. Presently, there are
24 patents on trademark applications for the product. Plans are afoot to
improve LeChal in terms of comfort of use, features and functionality.
Where to find it
Priced
at ₹ 6999, LeChal can be purchased from the company’s official website.
It is also available on e-commerce stores like Amazon and retail
stations like Croma. According to the company, over 10,000 units have
been sold till now. So, take a break from constantly looking at your
phone’s screen to know which way to go. After all, products like LeChal
are eyes to your feet.
Finding out the best fitness tracker is a difficult prospect nowadays. Everyone wants a piece of the action. The right activity tracker for you will be based on your individual needs.
The moment someone says 'fitness tracker', you likely think of a device mounted on the wrist, whether it's a band that only tracks fitness, or a smartwatch. It is true that wrist-mounted fitness devices are the most popular gadgets in the category, with at least 160 wrist-based fitness trackers in the market. But we've also heard some people mention that they don't want to wear something like a Fitbit because they already wear a watch all the time, and so they don't want another thing to keep on their wrists.
If you are someone who'd rather keep his wrists free, but still want to be able to track your fitness, we've Lechal for you. Everyone likes a good pair of shoes. And wouldn't it be great if your footwear could be your fitness coach? Lechal footwear has something similar in mind. What started as a company to improve navigation for the visually impaired people, is now one of the most innovative fitness solutions.
Apart from normal features like step counting and tracking calories burned, Lechal also has the capability to navigate you turn by turn via haptic feedback. It even works when you're not connected to the Internet. Another interesting feature is group journeys, to guide people to the same location from different starting points, using the pods.
Place Lechal insoles in any pair of shoes and experience the comfort you could never imagine. The pleasure of these majestic insoles increases the quality of life and helps in more haptic vibrations. Take your body to its extremes with this fitness app. This will help you in keeping track of your steps, calories and distance traversed so that you can improve on yourself.
