隨着科技的發展，如今盲人不靠枴杖也能獨立行走了。奧地利研發出了一款智能導航鞋，可以探測到4米遠的障礙物，堪稱盲人的出行利器。
Austrian company Tec-Innovation recently unveiled smart shoes that use ultrasonic sensors to help people suffering from blindness or vision impairment to detect obstacles up to four meters away.
奧地利公司Tec-Innovation近期推出了一款智能鞋，可以通過超聲波傳感器幫助盲人或視力障礙者探測到四米遠的障礙物。
Known as InnoMake, the smart shoe aims to become an alternative to the decades-old walking stick that millions of people around the world depend on to get around as safely as possible. The currently available model relies on sensors to detect obstacles and warns the wearer via vibration and an audible alert sounded on a Bluetooth-linked smartphone. That sounds impressive enough, but the company is already working on a much more advanced version that incorporates cameras and artificial intelligence to not only detect obstacles but also their nature.
這款名為InnoMake的智能鞋旨在替代幾十年來全球數百萬人賴以安全活動的枴杖。目前能買到的這款鞋子依靠傳感器來探測障礙物，並通過藍牙智能手機發出振動和鈴聲來警告穿着者。聽上去夠酷的了，不過該公司已經開始研發包含攝像頭和人工智能技術的升級版鞋子，不僅可以探測到障礙物，還可以檢測出是何種障礙物。
"Not only is the warning that I am facing an obstacle relevant, but also the information about what kind of obstacle I am facing. Because it makes a big difference whether it’s a wall, a car or a staircase,” Markus Raffer, one of the founders of Tec-Innovation, told TechXplore.
Tec-Innovation公司的創始人之一馬庫斯·拉費爾告訴科技媒體TechXplore説：“這款鞋子不但會警告你前方有障礙物，還可以告訴你是何種障礙物。因為牆壁、車和樓梯這些障礙物之間差別很大。”
"Ultrasonic sensors on the toe of the shoe detect obstacles up to four meters away. The wearer is then warned by vibration and/or acoustic signals. This works very well and is already a great help to me personally,” Raffer, himself visually impaired, added.
拉費爾本人就有視力障礙，他補充道：“鞋尖上的超聲波傳感器可以探測到四米遠的障礙物。穿着者會收到振動或鈴聲警告。這款鞋效果很好，對我本人幫助很大。”
The current version of the InnoMake shoe is already available for purchase on the Tec-Innovation website, for €3,200 per pair.
目前這款InnoMake鞋子在Tec-Innovation官網上可以買到，單價3200歐元（約合人民幣2.5萬元）。
The advanced system is integrated in the front of the shoes, in a waterproof and dustproof case. It is powered by a heavy-duty battery that can last for up to one week, depending on use. The battery can be charged in just three hours, using a USB cable.
這套高級系統就安置在鞋尖處，配有防水防塵保護殼。支持系統的高能電池續航時間可達一週，具體時長依據使用情況而定，用USB 數據線充電三個小時就能充滿。
The next step for Tec-Innovation is to use the data collected by its system to create a kind of street view navigation map for visually impaired people.
Tec-Innovation公司的下一步是利用該系統收集的數據為視力障礙者打造一款街景導航地圖。
"As it currently stands, only the wearer benefits in each case from the data the shoe collects as he or she walks. It would be much more sustainable if this data could also be made available to other people as a navigation aid,” computer scientist Friedrich Fraundorfer explained.
計算機科學家弗里德里希·弗藍多佛解釋道：“就目前而言，只有穿着者才能在行走時獲得鞋子收集到的數據。如果其他人也可以獲得這些導航數據，可持續性將會大大提高。”
英文來源：Oddity Central
翻譯&編輯：丹妮