Smart walking cane could soon stand the test of time

The old gentlemen's walking cane may go "smart", under a new research project funded by the central government, and be able to catch a person before they stumble.

Professor Huang Jian , a robotics scientist at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and leader of the smart cane project, recently received 800,000 yuan (HK$1 million) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China to bring the technology from the lab to everyday life.

The cane's intelligence comes from motion sensors and a central processing chip programmed with an original algorithm. Sensors, some in the cane and others worn by the user, capture a person's gait and generate a constant stream of data. A small computer in the cane analyses this information. If any abnormalities are detected, such as a loss of balance, an electric motor is activated to adjust the cane to help the walker counter the fall and prevent injury.

In reality, the smart cane is still a work in progress, Huang said.

"We have overcome most technical issues and obtained good results with a prototype in laboratory experiments," Huang said. "We are improving the technology. I hope it can be ready for commercial use in one or two years."

The team, comprising robotics scientists from the mainland and Japan, has spent six years in search of solutions to the problems posed in trying to perfect the smart cane, Huang said.

"The most difficult problem is predicting a fall and then coming up with a strategy to prevent it," he said.