S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: April the 29th, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated
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S1: your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia
S1: radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast
S1: with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager. Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo.
S2: G'day, Stephen.
S1: Damo, this week you're going to take us for a
S1: walk with your We walk smart cane.
S2: Yes, I certainly am.
S1: The we walk smart cane too. So you took it
S1: out on the track a few days ago?
S2: Yes, I did, so I'm able to sort of demonstrate
S2: some of the buttons, the quality of the audio and
S2: some of the features that, uh, make this a really
S2: interesting and very useful device if you're a cane user.
S1: Jamie McMorrow on the road with his smart cane. Two.
S2: So let's start with a description of the device itself.
S2: So for all intents and purposes, the Walk Smart Cane
S2: two feels very like any other long cane that you
S2: might be familiar with. We've got a rubber grip at
S2: the top of the cane. We have a piece of
S2: elastic which holds everything together, and at the other end
S2: we have the ball type cane tip. There are a
S2: few differences though. So the first thing that you will
S2: notice with this is that the tip is a 360 tip.
S2: So it can roll, but it can also pivot. So
S2: it's designed to not uh, Uh, get stuck when you,
S2: you know, encounter gravel or uneven surfaces and those sorts
S2: of things. Now, because the cane shaft is an amber
S2: tech shaft, you can install other tips on this cane.
S2: You can use, for example, the marshmallow tip, that kind
S2: of thing. However, we will do say that, uh, all
S2: of the obstacle detection functionality is calibrated using this 360 tip.
S2: I don't mind it myself, but I have heard others
S2: say that they don't like it and that they think
S2: it's too large. But, uh, personally, I haven't really found
S2: it to be a problem. The other thing you'll notice
S2: is that the handle is a little different to most
S2: other canes. And, uh, when I say that, what I
S2: mean is that we have a number of buttons and
S2: sensors and things on the handle. So the handle is
S2: secured to the cane with an adapter, you can unscrew
S2: the handle from the cane, but I wouldn't recommend you
S2: do that unless you, you know, need to send it
S2: back for repair or you're having a problem with it
S2: because it can be difficult to get on and off.
S2: So normally I would leave it assembled if I was you.
S2: So on the top of the handle we have the
S2: speaker grille and it's a Harman Kardon speaker. It's actually
S2: quite loud. And we'll, we'll take it for a little
S2: walk in a minute, and I can show you that
S2: we have a USB C port on one side of
S2: the handle. And that's for obviously charging the handle, which
S2: contains all of the smarts a little further down on
S2: the same side of the handle, we have a couple
S2: of buttons. Now, one of which doesn't do anything at
S2: the moment, I don't think, but the other controls the
S2: obstacle detection mode. Um, turning the handle around, we've got
S2: a series of four buttons, and these are for controlling
S2: the navigation functionality of the cane, and also the voice assistant,
S2: which I will also demonstrate in a moment. And a
S2: little below that we have the obstacle detection sensor. It
S2: just feels like a small slot, almost a little bit
S2: like a slotted screw, but wider and below that we
S2: have a small smooth area, which is the flashlight, and
S2: that's really all there is to it in terms of
S2: the hardware on the cane. The idea of this, though,
S2: is that while you do pair the cane with your phone,
S2: you shouldn't need to get your phone out of your pocket.
S2: Once that's done, you should just be able to turn
S2: the cane on and have it connect through the walk app.
S2: And then everything is driven from the um. The hand
S2: grip on the side of the cane. You can use
S2: it in either left or right handed mode. The trick
S2: is to make sure that the sensor, the obstacle detection sensor,
S2: is pointing up. So that gives you a good sort
S2: of way to orientate yourself around the cane. Now, in
S2: terms of the buttons, let me just tell you about
S2: those and then we'll go and take the device for
S2: a quick walk, so the row of four buttons are
S2: the main ones that you'll use. So the top one
S2: is our power button and that is a square shape.
S2: We've then got a an arrow that sort of points
S2: upwards towards the top of the cane. So it's a
S2: triangular button. We then have a circular button which is
S2: used to trigger the voice assistant, and then we have
S2: a downward pointing arrow at the bottom of that row
S2: of buttons. The buttons that control the obstacle detection functionality
S2: are just two small round buttons. So I'm going to
S2: power the cane on now, and I've got the walk
S2: app running on my phone as well. And I'm going
S2: to do that by holding down the square button. So
S2: that's the top one closest to the speaker. And we
S2: hear that little tune that tells us it's powered up, connected,
S2: and there's our sound to indicate that the cane is connected.
S2: So from here I shouldn't really need to touch my
S2: phone at all. So there are a few things we
S2: can do here so we can save locations and navigate
S2: to them. And we can also use the voice assistant.
S2: And we do that by holding the circular button down
S2: and speaking. So for example I could do something like this.
S2: Where is the nearest cafe?
S3: I found five addresses. I will sort it based on distance,
S3: starting with the nearest location address one by an e cafe.
S3: Address two three tiers. Cafe. Address three cafe Ava.
S2: And so on. So we can go through the different
S2: search results because it's using ChatGPT, you know, you can
S2: also ask it random things. I don't quite know why
S2: you would ask your cane, for example, for a chocolate
S2: chip cookie recipe, but in theory you could. What we'll
S2: do now is we'll pop outside and I will show
S2: you the obstacle detection functionality. Okay, so we're now outside.
S2: Apologies for the wind noise, but not too much I
S2: can do about it today. I'm holding the cane in
S2: my left hand because I'm a left handed cane user,
S2: and I'm going to turn on the obstacle detection mode.
S2: Now there are three settings. There's short, mid and far.
S2: This is obviously to alter, you know how how sensitive
S2: the obstacle detection functionality is. And then if I press
S2: it again it turns it off. The other thing we
S2: can do is by pressing and holding this button.
S4: Obstacle detection. Sound off.
S2: We can turn the sound off so that the cane
S2: vibrates instead, which you may want, because the audio is
S2: kind of a little bit makes you feel a little
S2: bit conspicuous, I would say. But for the moment, let's
S2: turn it on.
S4: Obstacle detection sound on.
S2: And I'm going to select the short mode. And you'll
S2: hear the the beeping. And the closer I get or
S2: the further away I get the softer the sound. Now
S2: it doesn't detect things that the the cane tip will
S2: pick up. It's designed to detect between things, between your
S2: waist and your head height. So as I approach this obstacle.
S2: You'll hear that it gets faster if I back away
S2: from it. It'll it'll the sound will will slow down
S2: if I set it to mid as an example. Now
S2: I haven't moved but it's picking it up where it
S2: wasn't on short mode. Okay. So it really depends on
S2: how you use the device as to, you know, how
S2: you might want that set up. Uh, as I said,
S2: I can also turn that off. So I've now turned
S2: it off and the cane is now just vibrating in
S2: my hand. The closer I get to the obstacle, the
S2: stronger the vibration. And as I back away, that vibration
S2: becomes less. So that's. That's the obstacle detection mode. Um,
S2: so as I said, you would use that. I'll just
S2: stop that for a moment. You would use that as
S2: a means of detecting things like overhanging branches. Um, perhaps
S2: a parked car or like a utility vehicle where the
S2: cane tip might go under the back of the tray,
S2: but you're likely to hit the tray. Um, you know,
S2: at stomach height or head height, that kind of thing. Um,
S2: so it does give you a little bit extra Protection
S2: than you would have using a conventional long cane. So
S2: that's that's the obstacle detection function to turn on the flashlight.
S2: If we're using the cane at night, we can press
S2: and hold the up arrow key flashlight on. And the
S2: flashlight is now on. And I'm told it's quite bright
S2: and quite visible. And if you've got a little bit
S2: of usable vision, you may also find it quite helpful.
S4: Flashlight.
S2: The other thing we can do is to press and
S2: hold the circular button, and that'll get us into our
S2: My Places menu. And that's where you can save your, um,
S2: your favorite locations and those sorts of things. So I'll
S2: just quickly show you that my places. So there it
S2: said my places. And if we press the circular button again.
S2: So that's obviously my home address. And if I use
S2: the arrow keys.
S3: 373 Old Cleveland.
S4: Road.
S2: So that's how my work address, which is the Vision
S2: Australia office at Cooper, who I can then if I
S2: want to select that. We can select go there.
S4: 373 Old Cleveland Road, Rota one transport 54 minutes walking
S4: then then walking.
S2: Okay, so that's given me a direction to walk to
S2: the local train station and catch the Cleveland line to
S2: Shorncliffe and then walk again.
S4: And that transport one hour ten minutes walking then then walking, okay, 150,
S4: then walking, then 209, then walking.
S2: So if I wanted to take a really convoluted route
S2: there instead, I could, uh, you know, I could have
S2: selected that option, which is a train, some walking and
S2: a couple of buses. So there's a couple of different
S2: ways of doing this, but there's a couple of things
S2: I suppose to note, from me, showing you that one
S2: is obviously that it is public transport aware, which is nice. Um,
S2: and that it does try to give you a few
S2: different options to get to your destination, and you can
S2: cycle through those using the arrow keys. So there we go, folks.
S2: Hopefully that gives you a little bit of an overview
S2: of the walk. Smart cane two. Um, I've certainly enjoyed
S2: using it. As I've mentioned on the program before, I
S2: am predominantly a dog user, but, um, I did take
S2: this over to the United States recently because I couldn't
S2: take my dog with me, and I did find it
S2: extremely helpful. I hope you've enjoyed this review. As always,
S2: if you have any questions, feel free to send me
S2: an email.
S1: Good on you, Damo. Damo McMorrow out on the track.
S1: They're putting the We Walk Smart Cane two through its paces.
S1: And if you'd like to find out more about the
S1: We Walk, you could check it out by going to
S1: the vision store of Vision Australia. That's shop.australia.shop.org. Whenever I
S1: want to find out something about a vision store product,
S1: I just go to the search button which is on
S1: the top of the home page, and from there you
S1: can enter the name of the product. In this case
S1: you just type. We walk w e w k. It's
S1: not case sensitive. And then the we walk references will
S1: come up and you can look at information about their
S1: 48 inch, 54 inch or 59 inch products. So that's
S1: the We Walk available from the shop at Vision Australia.
S1: There's some very interesting info there about the product, the
S1: specifications and other details and links to a video as
S1: well that will explain more about it. And I believe
S1: it sells for $1,495. Now, before we go, a little
S1: note about this program. Talking tech has been going for
S1: around 13 years. If you're a regular listener to the show,
S1: you won't want to miss next week's Significant Edition, a
S1: very special presentation of talking tech. Now, a reminder that
S1: for details of what you can find in this and
S1: previous editions of the program, just go to VA. VA. Radio.com.
S1: And to right to the program.
S2: You can email me.
S1: At. This has been talking tech with me has been
S1: Vision Australia's national access technology manager Damien McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolley.
S1: Take care. We'll talk more tech next week. Don't forget
S1: to tune in for it. See you.