In the past few years, we have seen several devices designed to help to guide visually impaired. Now, two Indian techies have created a shoe-smartphone combination navigation device - an insole which can be slipped into any footwear for the blind.

The Secunderabad duo, Anirudh Sharma, a postgraduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Krispian Lawrence, a graduate from University of Michigan, have invented a smart-footwear called Le Chal (Hindi for 'take me there').

The footwear is in sync with the smartphone. Most of the operations can be performed using the volume keys on your smartphone. Once the destination is set on the app, a mild vibrational feedback activates in the shoe to inform user of the direction he or she needs to turn to. The vibration is weak in the beginning of the journey and starts to grow stronger as the destination approaches.

Sharma has designed the first prototype of the device in 2011, while attending MIT's Design and Innovation workshop in Pune.

Krispian, who was in Mumbai on Tuesday to launch the interactive-shoe, said, "The device is intended primarily to assist users in finding their way to a specific geographical location."

The user needs to enter his or her destination on Google Maps. This would be communicated to the shoe via Bluetooth with a circuit board, located in the sole of the shoe. Following the Google-supplied turn-by-turn directions, along with locational data from its own GPS unit, the phone gets the board to activate each of the shoe's four vibrators as needed. A proximity sensor in the front of the shoe also alerts the user about obstacles, which it can detect from up to 10-feet away.

The footwear is priced at $100 and will be available in the market from next month. It would be available at concessional rate for visually impaired.

Once charged fully, the footwear works for 14-hours daily with three days.

SOURCE: DNA India