Midway through 2025 and glide only Alpha 2.0?

@ash rein, I don't think they were real videos, I think they were more like what glide could be, I could be rong on that though but my understanding is that those were fake what if cenarios.

After all; they're now testing it in real life spaces, they weren't doing that before.

I do think glide could have made that a bit clearer in their first set of videos. Then again; maybe they did and I've just forgottten as they're quite old by now.

After reading through the majority of these posts, I have to say that I think I would rather just stick with a Seeing Eye Dog. Far more adaptable, more enjoyable, and far less having to worry about what latest features my guide dog has.
I mean seriously, every post I see about this device ends up being about what features should come with it, versus what features will be added later.
I feel as though people are forgetting what this device is supposed to be meant for, and our seeing it as just another gadget to collect, just 'cause…

For the bleep posters here who think Glide is behind schedule, perhaps a bit of perspective would be helpful. Many of these products launched with vaporware promises, rumors, secrets, disappointments and bleep posting sceptics who think they know everything about product development.

1. Apple iPhone

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 2-3 years (2004-2007)
   • The iPhone revolutionized the smartphone industry with its touchscreen interface and app ecosystem.

2. Tesla Model S

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 5 years (2004-2008)
   • The Model S was a significant step in electric vehicle technology, combining performance with luxury.

3. Sony PlayStation

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 5 years (1988-1994)
   • The PlayStation changed the gaming landscape, introducing 3D graphics and CD-ROM technology.

4. Nintendo Wii

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 4 years (2001-2005)
   • The Wii introduced motion-sensing controls, making gaming more accessible to a broader audience.

5. Microsoft Xbox

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 3 years (1999-2001)
   • The Xbox brought console gaming into the online multiplayer era with Xbox Live.

6. Amazon Kindle

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 2 years (2004-2007)
   • The Kindle transformed the way people read books, popularizing e-readers and digital publishing.

7. GoPro Hero

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 2 years (2002-2004)
   • The GoPro camera changed the way people capture action sports and adventures.

8. Oculus Rift

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 3 years (2012-2016)
   • The Oculus Rift was pivotal in bringing virtual reality to the consumer market.

9. Fitbit

   • Concept to Launch: Approximately 2 years (2007-2009)
   • Fitbit popularized fitness tracking and wearable technology.

10. DJI Phantom

    • Concept to Launch: Approximately 3 years (2012-2015)
    • The Phantom series made aerial photography accessible to consumers and hobbyists.

These timelines can vary based on numerous factors, including funding, technological challenges, and market conditions.

Another gadget to collect? You could be right. I'll let you know after my own Battle of waterloo. Meanwhile, I had the same conversation with someone about a bread machine the other day. what's the bleedin' point, eh? This chap told me his bread machine was amazing as it had authentic kneading plates. I've got those too, they're called hands! He then told me he only uses the bread machine to mix the dough...why? Just use a food processor in that case! We can all fall victim to the gadget collection fad. Having said all of that, my recent trip to Italy has left me thinking about purchasing a pasta machine. I wonder what Glide would have to say about that?

I did watch some of those older videos. Most importantly, amos gets a refreshing smoothy...please! rather cringeworthy, I thought. I noted also thaqt the videos focused heavily on an environment laid out in blocks, which is the case with most North american cities. European cities, including London, are not laid out in blocks. They're far more confusing. So let's see how it does in what's arguably a more challenging context.

Where I live in the UK we have for some reason only known to the council pavements that curve round at crossings. So not a strict on/off thing you have to follow it round until you come to the crossing even though the road is maybe 5m away from the crossing due to the curve. Be interesting to see if Glide takes you to the crossing or seeing the road just crosses you over there.

In the U.S. there are places with the classic block (grid) layout. But many newer areas no. I already mentioned to them in one of their first public surveys to consider cul-de-sacs and even worse, roundabouts with no markings or sidewalks which is the norm where I live.

Part of me wants to make a comment about a guide dog being much heavier to lift up and carry when going up stairs, but I assume the humor would fall flat for some.
The odd stairs Ash Rein describes reminds me of some of the natural landscape where I grew up, where ancient sedimentary layers formed hills and sometimes small mountains.

That's interesting regarding newer areas. Over here, the received wisdom is that if you could demolish everything in europe and start again, blocks would be the way to go. european cities are as they are because in most cases they have grown up from the medieval or earlier streets and settlements. The walk from Waterloo to my office is quite straightforward but there are more difficult environments round that area. I'm thinking of an area known as the Cup, for example, which I think will be an interesting one for glide to take on. The route to the posh cake shop which also does hot meals and where you can pay £12 for a slice of Victoria Sponge, if you wish, is also a really weird one which is about as far from blocks as you can get.

One other thing: they'll need to localise the english if they want me to buy it. I'll have pavements rather than sidewalks and pedestrian crossings rather than crosswalks (is that what it means by a crosswalk?).

And, to be clear,I am very glad that amos got his smoothy. He must have needed it especially as, judging by the echo on one of the other videos that has audio from inside his house, he lives in something like a cathedral.

I'm excited, though am happier to pay full price for a known quantity. I really hope it is outstanding, I'm just sorry all you backers have to wait so long, and thank you for funding it so cowards like me can benefit from your faith.

I'm kind of in the same mindset, except for the sarcasm regarding backers as I would be likely to invest in something like this if I could actually experience it, though I live in Portugal and don't think I've heard anything about any product demos from our blind association yet, so I will reserve my judgment and money until they either make a demo in Lisbon that I can attend or the final product comes out. Personally I feel pretty excited about this product, because in my opinion even a subset of the advertised features has the potential to be life changing for me, so if a demo manages to convince me I won't really mind gambling on it. Sure there are going to be disadvantages and I will have to adapt in some ways, like entering and exiting trains, handling it in crowded public transportation, and even storing in a vehicle's trunk, but the quality of life navigation improvements can potentially make these issues at least tolerable for me.

In the comment above, João Santos mentioned quality of life navigation improvements. This is the part about Glide that has me really interested. As I see it, if Glide ends up being able to do what people hope it will, it will be a tremendous technological feat and it will really push the boundaries of what we think is possible. The fact that someone is even trying to develop a product like this is cool.

But, as much potential as I think the Glide has (I would love to, for example, be able to tell it to take me down the street to the barbershop), the big question I have is, "How will people know I'm blind?"

There was a time in my childhood when I did not want anyone to know I was blind. I hated the word 'blind', I didn't want to be identified with blindness, and I didn't want to use a cane. Today, I want people to know.
When I'm walking around with my cane, there's no mistaking what that cane represents. When I wear sunglasses indoors, the same applies. It lets people know that I am very, very blind. Put another way, my cane (and those sunglasses, when I wear them) tells sighted people around me that I cannot see them. To me, that matters. A lot. I want the bicyclists racing down the Chicago sidewalks to know I can't see them. I want people in the crowded airport to know I can't see them. I want drivers to know I can't see them. This way, if I need assistance, or run into something (or someone!), people will know I can't see and, I hope, would be more understanding. As cool as the Glide is, I don't see it having that same instant "ah hah!" recognition with sighted people as would a cane or a dog. And to me, that matters a lot.

It is a valid concern. I've even had people ask me what a cane is, in 2025! The alarming thing was it was an adult. Depending on what Glidance does I'd possibly consider adding a sticker that illustrates a cane or maybe largely spells out "BLIND USER". Not perfect but we'll have to start the education somewhere. There also is for sale the so-called identification cane, which is functionally about useless but if you hold it your status is apparent, I guess. Maybe duct tape one of those on it?

I've already asked them about British English vs American English, personally it doesn't bother me but they've told me they're working on localisation, this was a couple of months back so let's see how things go in the stations or where ever it is we are going to do these demos.

As another comment has said, Lot's of things go into product development, It's not all black and white. Running my own technology firm, I know that Mantra well. Personally I'm really excited for this device to make it to Australia. The humble guide dog and cane certainly have there place, But such modes of mobility won't last forever. Glide has a good chance of moving the discourse forward in a positive way. If that means waiting a bit longer, I'm very comfortable with that notion.

I want to be liberated from the physical stick or handle reaching to the ground by way of haptic feedback, and hold something more like a laser pointer. Almost to be able to have a virtual cane or probe that will reproduce the feeling of touching what I point its sensor at, as if it were a cane. Like replacing the needle on a record player with an optical sensor. I want to be able to extend or limit its reach with controls of some sort, like if I could reach across the room to the doorway and feel if it is open or closed, or limit it to only reaching to the length I prefer my cane.
I guess an issue might be that the cane is solid and absolute, but without fairly strong haptics and a good deal of experience, such a sensor would be mushy to respond to, like with a curb or step.

It will be a sad day, when guy dogs no longer exist…
As they have been around for nearly a century, I think I shall not worry about it for now.
@OldBear,
What you want, is a family friendly Lightsaber. 🥸

This might already be possible with LIDAR, we just don't have anything with the right form factor, like a flashlight, and the haptic feedback could be in terms of repeated vibration patterns, either from a haptic engine or even low frequency sound that could speed up or raise in pitch for closer objects. They could even make it use kinetic energy as a safe alternative power source, like repeatedly squeezing the handle or something for backup in case its battery went flat and we had no spare replacement. Adding two cameras to it so it could augment the LIDAR with stereoscopic vision for gaging distances could also help in situations in which the LIDAR could potentially have problems, like in plain sunlight, and the input from the cameras could even be used with a paired smartphone app for higher level tasks using local computer vision models to aid in orientation. It could also serve as an actual near infrared flashlight to provide night vision to the sighted through the paired phone app, as well as a regular flashlight so it could be marketed as some kind of multitool not necessarily targeting just blind people.

I'm not sure what's happening to me lately, but every time someone proposes an idea like this my creativity goes wild. I had to stop myself from adding more stuff to the previous paragraph because it's already reaching wall of text proportions.

It's very much possible, and has been done in sonic form in various ways, but only with audible feedback, not haptic. In fact, long, long ago, in the late 70s, Polaroid came out with an ultra-sonar, auto-focus camera, with uncomplicated circuitry that worked fairly well, and I think that might have been some of the inspiration for the sonic canes of the 80s.
But when Apple can make a phone feel like you're pushing a button and it doesn't move, just solid glass, I think something could play the pavement with optics, like feeling it with a cane tip.
The lightsaber cane is for when you're in a crowd and people need to get out of your way, or you just can't find the door but you know it's on the other side of the wall...

SO you want something like the BrainPort but hold in your hand instead of your mouth... I would agree this would be nice. Never understood why BrainPort insists on the oral (tongue) approach. For the curious: https://www.wicab.com/brainport-vision-pro

I can't wait to see what the future holds in terms of mainstream technology, as well as technology for the visually impaired, say in the next 10 years or so.
May the 'farce' be with you, OldBear. 🐻🧑‍🦯‍➡️

Much less complicated than the BrainPort, which I would love to try. I want the device to look at, in one way or another, a small area of a surface and transmit the texture into physical vibrations in the device, like the phone simulates the click of a button with haptics. It would feel like sliding the tip of a cane across the ground, and when it encounters a curb, or step,, it makes a substantial twitch or jump in my hand. It would probably also make some noise, but the tactile part is the most important to me. I'm not sure there would be much need for the device to interpret a lot, just direct optic to kinetic feedback. That's been around since before the telephone. You might compare it to an Optacon, but not needing the fine detail.
As I understand it, the BrainPort is using electric pulses conducted into or across the tongue and can display a wide view of something. Don't know if the whole hand could be used with a giant Optacon, but that would take a huge number of tiny vibrating pins to achieve.

It'll happen, but probably not the way you're dreaming it.

Double Tap are famous to talk for ages about the blind uniform... controversy? :) This podcast is just pure gold almost 11/10 times.
Yeah, now that the brain for the robots (AI) seems to be in a good development cycle, the future potential for us is relatively bright just in term of pure possibilities and attempts at things.
But for me I am waiting as well for the medical progress where these adaptation will hopefully not be necessary anymore, and apparently this is tabou in the global blind community, something I will never ever understand. Like this is the most common sense to think about whether we are blind/low vision (or another spectrum :) ) from birth or later.
Anyways. Time will tell! As always.

I feel like I have wasted a lot of energy on the idea of a cure. When going blind, I think the temptation is to cling to that idea with everything you have. But actually my mental health improved a lot when I gave up on that and started trying to just make the most of it. I think it's not always easy for people to understand that this was a positive step and not a negative one. My Mum in particular struggles with this.

So whilst I would jump at the chance of a cure, as long as it doesn't involve putting a mini musk bot in my skull, I'd personally rather be looking to make my life better in the short term and not worry so much about what may or may not come in the future.

As for the problem of identification, it is also something that concerns me. The blind uniform is a real thing. My wife tells me if I am out with my cane somewhere busy then it's like the parting of the red sea in front of me. My hope is that with the Glide it will reduce the amount of time that I require people know I am blind because it will steer me around the things that might otherwise be a problem. But there are still plenty of times when it is useful for people to know you are blind and I don't really want to be explaining myself all the time.

Hopefully over time tech will help reduce the number of times that we need to do this.

The problem with all this new tech is there is no consistency so unless one product wins there's not going to be an easy new uniform for us to adopt. Maybe we should start walking around with a liquid level indicator dangling round our necks on a lanyard?

@ash rein, well said. The way I see it, I don't care what others think,, as long as I'm happy enough with life, that's good enough for me.

Just got the email from Amos saying that it has indeed been delayed to Spring 2026. Not a huge surprise. Actually if it does release then, it will suit me better - I don't want to be leaving the house over winter much anyway.

Ok yes I agree rather get something that they and we are happy with a few months later than just shunting something out because they can. As Kevin put somewhere in this thread these things can take up to 4 or 5 years so 2.5 years would be great. However, for those who are doing the demos in the UK this week maybe worth asking if they plan to add more at launch. I mean they said at original launch no mapping facility but it would be coming in updates later. Well 6 months or so is later so maybe we can find out if they can launch with mapping already installed.

Frankly I've anticipated this move for weeks. There were no faq or roadmap updates since early spring and the recent news items were mostly of the "let's introduce a wonderful glider" type. If things had gone according to schedule, Glide should have been in very heavy beta / preproduction phase right now. But almost not a single sillable was disclosed about the beta program yet.
I think Glidance team foresaw this neccessary move already around March / April, but they found it quite tough to communicate that because of the high level of expectation and excitement around the device.
My opinion about reasons is this. I don't think it's about tarifs and cutbacks, at least not at this stage. I don't think it's funding-related either. I think Glidance hit the tightest bottleneck for every such ambitious, but niche project, and that is workforce. It's extremely hard to hire sufficient amount of employees for such a project with appropriate expertise and pay them accordingly.
For Glide the bare minimum of workforce would be the following In order to fulfill by the originally planned time-frame:
5 full-time software developers: on-device software, iOS and Android apps, cloud AI infrastructure, debugging, localisation (i.e. translation of all things to non-English languages, remember Glide is planned to launch in EU also)
5 hardware specialists: all hardware-related matters, including validation and certification (not a walk in the park at all). This is not a toy at all, but a life-critical device and the first in a category that didn't even exist earlier.
5 more persons for legal matters, organisation, PR, correspondence, demo days etc.: these will be more and more significant as they approach production stage.
I would be quite surprised to say the least ifGlidance had 10 persons altogether, I think it's rather 7 or 8. This is a very complex project, and with anything less than listed, serious delays are virtually guaranteed.
This is not the best news because as I have seen many times in life, delays have the bad habit of attracting further delays, and always make the given project more expensive to fulfill and that grows rapidly with time.
With this delay I seriously doubt the final retail price target of 1499 USD will be maintainable. Honestly I found that target a bit too optimistic even last summer, when I first read about Glide (and that was here on Applevis). I feel the final retail price will settle at something around 1800 USD. But on the other side I also feel that the monthly subscription fee can come down from 30 USD to around 20 USD by then, maybe even less. I see great advancements in the computation and energy efficiency of AI models. Take qwen3 as an example, launched in late April. The largest model of the qwen3 family (qwen3-235b-a22b) has at least the strength of Deepseek R1 (if not much better), but with significantly fewer parameters, so the fraction of the computation and energy needs. I've extensively tested that model in recent days, and I am quite blown away with its performance. So cloud infrastructure costs related to Glideare quite likely to come down significantly by the new planned launch date and maybe even more later.

Well, I am not worried because I don't have my neck in the game, so as to say, I haven't put in money for pre-order. Those who have, thank you to them. Someone, those who can afford, must take risks so that good things may come out.
Working in software development field, I am familiar with the pitfalls of such an undertaking to an extent. Delays are observed even for most simplest or meticulously planned projects.
We can't dismiss the points Glide has put forward for their reasons for delays. If few months delay means that overall a better product reaches end-user's hands, then I prefer that over getting a buggy, glitchy, unusable product out of the box. I am sure people using certain devices from a certain brand will agree.
Let's not forget that Amos is one of us, and if anyone has their neck in the game, his would be the largest, followed closely by all his team members. I applawed their efforts, and wish and pray for nothing short of a massive success, for that will entail a massive improvement in my own life in near future.
It's true that life keeps improving, driven by science and technology. If I am sure there are fantastic things ahead in next few decades, I can't help but wonder what kind of achievements I might not even be there to witness, say a century or 2 ahead.
I'll wait and watch, if glide is successful and prooves to be useful in my context, I'll happily hit the buy now button down the road.

The delay is obvious in hindsight. My recent hands-on demo consisted of someone describing everything the Glide would eventually do, and how those features would roll out over years. The Glide itself supported the most basic freestyle mode. We were not given an opportunity to give the Glide commands. It should have been obvious to me that they were looking at a schedule slip.

I could talk at length about cures and treatments. We all have our anecdotes to share. Fortunately for you all, I'm about to go out for coffee with a friend, so I'll keep it short.

I have found life most satisfying, and I am most comfortable, when I join and participate in activities, groups, and organizations of and for fully sighted people. Conversely, when in a blind support group or gathering of blind persons, I feel like it's taking time away from what I really want to do. Some might call that denial. Rest assured, I'm blind. There's no denying it. But, despite that blindness, I still want to be a writer, a musician, a technophile, a speedcuber, and a good friend, husband, and dad.

Paul Martz for President! 🎆😎🫵🏻

I do think this will get released, but if they do keep putting it back, I might have to ask for a refund. I completely understand that these things take time and i'm willing to give them until the end of next spring, so nearly august.

I will really push for maps because that's why I paid for the thing. freestile mode is great if you know the area but I don't really care for that, what I want is the maps.

There's not much to say, it wasn't terible, far from it, it was a fun time.

It's really good at stearing around people and obsticles now. There were free buttons on the underside of the handle, they were not nicely placed switches, not yet, but they worked.

I asked about making it so glide does everything, finds bus time tables, trains, stuff like that and Aimus said that they don't want to do it through apps, they want to pipe the info from a surver/AI thing, or whatever it will be , then back to the glide, which I honestly like.

I talked to Aimus about refunds and he said that he doesn't want the glide just gathering dust so if it doesn't work for you then contact them and they'll see what they can do.

They are planning on making offices, or something like that, at the places where glide is soled.

The negative for me is how it behaves like a guide dog and how I'm used to a cane, I just think I'll have to get used to it.

They're thinking of making swoppable things like wheels and handles.

I can't really tell you more than that but if you ask, I'll do my best to remember.

I hope bingo littles write up is better than mine but we'll see, we're not holding back on anything, it's just, there's not really a huge amount to say.

Did you find the movement of Glide smooth? Was it reactive enough? How did it feel when it steered around something (or even braked)? What was the grip on the handle like? Would you find putting a backup collapsed cane in the handle feasible, is there enough room for that on it? (earlier it was told that the handle would be designed as such) Were those three switches on the handle for changing direction and how did that work? Did you experience any haptic or voice feedback from Glide? Did you have the opportunity to try it on stairs? The environment around Waterloo Station has plenty of those (I visited that once as a tourist), if the demo was actually held there as promised.
Thanks much in advance for telling more about these!

Did you find the movement of Glide smooth? Oh yes, it was almost to smooth. it felt like, well, gliding, apart from when using the breaks. Then it felt like a soft brick wal, oh I'm sure if you wanted to; you could push past it but I don't think the wheels would actually move.

Was it reactive enough? Yeah, it was very reactive to breaking.

How did it feel when it steered around something (or even braked)?

That's hard to describe, imagine pushing something forward in one hand, and having it go where it wants to; instead of you going with it. That's not exactly right but that's how I felt. I like the idea of the device but it felt a bit off to me. Personally I asked if they'd be willing for a bigger handle with two extra wheels behind it, like a stroler/buggy/pram. I guess I have to get used to it.

What was the grip on the handle like?

It was a little plastic handle with three glewed on kind of little sharp buttons, they'll of course be actual buttons in the propper design.

Would you find putting a backup collapsed cane in the handle feasible, is there enough room for that on it? (earlier it was told that the handle would be designed as such) No, not at the moment. I honestly completely forgot to ask about the cane.

Were those three switches on the handle for changing direction and how did that work? They were, yeah. SO you have 3 buttons, centre, for straight, left for left and right for right. You're meant to press them whilst walking, although I stopped and pressed them, and once you do, glide will react to where you want to go.

Did you experience any haptic or voice feedback from Glide?

They've not got a speaker in the thing just yet but I did experience the hapticks but honestly can't tell you what they were like simply because I don't know, they existed; I know that much, because aimus mentioned them, but I couldn't really tell you about them because I only really noticed the stearing.

Did you have the opportunity to try it on stairs? The environment around Waterloo Station has plenty of those (I visited that once as a tourist), if the demo was actually held there as promised.

No, and the thing is; I mentioned trying it on stairs so the team can gather data. I don't think they forgot and if I pushed it I think they would have let me, I just honestly was getting a bit hungry by the end of it.

Sorry I can't give more info,. I'll have to try it in my own place to see how I really feel about it, for now, I like what they're doing as an idea but I don't know if I'd actually want to use it in my day to day life.

I've got to try it for myself on my home terf; to truely get used to it.

It'll be interesting to see how it feels once it comes out fully.

Feel free to ask more but this is one of those things you have to go and see to truely understand.

Thanks Brad for your fair and to-the-point answers, you really did well!
I have a quite good mental model in my head on how Glide would behave when walking with it since summer 2024, when I first read about Glide here. What you describe fits that well, and I still can imagine very much using it in the streets. Putting a collapsed backup cane in the handle is a crucial point though for a small portion of cases, especially for irregular stairs without a hand-rail and when boarding buses, trams and trains with steep stairs or even with a handle in the middle of their stairs for passengers to hold when boarding. Not all of them are like that here in Budapest (the capital of Hungary, where I live), but there are quite a lot of that type, mainly the older rolling stock. It was definitely told that the handle of Glide would be designed to accomodate a collapsed backup cane earlier, but now I don't find any mention of it in the just recently updated faq (the one with the 2026 spring launch date). By the way I like the new faq content much more than the earlier ones: it is much more honest and accurate, and tones down on marketing a bit.
Brad, one more question: which part of the Waterloo Station complex was the demo held at? In the underground station, in the railway station portion, or somewhere around those? Nevertheless everything around there is quite complex and busy, full of people and everything.

I believe we went through most of the station.

I'm looking forward to at least trying it on the street when I get it.

We'll have to see how things go in the future.

Perhaps you could write to them about a cane holder, I feel like it would make a good accessory.

Double Tap interviewed the CEO in their latest episode.

Thanks for the comments - very interesting. When you say "The negative for me is how it behaves like a guide dog and how I'm used to a cane, I just think I'll have to get used to it." What do you mean by this? Is the tricky part that you are having to give up some of the control and put your trust in this? Whereas with a cane I guess you are getting more of a feeling of your surroundings? I guess there is going to be a bit of a leap of faith.

The Double Tap episode was great - Amos comes across so well in interviews, and it was good that some of the concerns posted in this thread were directly put to him. It was also interesting to hear about Steven's experiences too both positive and negative. It does feel like we are beginning to get some more grounded opinions on this now the initial novelty is wearing off.

Ye'h I always imagined it would be like using a guide dog. I think if like me you have never had one you need to give yourself time to walk in your own environment and at your own speed and time. I hope and actually believe given this we will get used to it. Would be interesting to know if someone has tested this who does have a dog and how, if at all it differs. Maybe the biggest thing is trust. A dog has survival instincts whereas AI no matter how accurate can't have.

Yeah, exactly! with a cane you get a much more tacktile feeling. I mentioned to Aimus how I have a block that I can walk around, basically it's right next to my house and is a square, the square however has driveways on the first straight line, it's 4 lines,, glide will not enter them because it wants to go straight, there's a problem however, with the cane I can role and tap until I reach the corner and know through doing that that I have to now go right, with glide; this isn't possible.

Yes, you can press the go right, button, whilst walking, but if you do that, I think if a driveway comes up instead of the corner, it will go right, ttaking you into the driveway.

I think aimus is so used to working with a dog that he's forgotten how canes work.

Someone else mentioned something like, yeah but, that's to do with your mobility skills and I actually disagree completely, the cane is a straight stick, you can tell when you need to go right and can turn your brain off whilst listening to a podcast, with glide; i'd need to concentrate on the corner coming up and I'd not be completely sure of that corner vs driveway, and if you just let it rome in freerome mode; it'll just go to the road and stop.

I'm honestly having a bit of a turn around on the glide at the moment, perhaps when I get it i'll change my mind but for now, the one who was all over this and supporting it so much is turning away slightly.

I like the tech, I like that aimus is blind, but I don't think he fully understands us cane users.

Now if he made a smart cane, I'd probably be all over it, but I don't see that happpening.

I'll give my honest review when I get my glide but don't take my word for it, if you can; go to a demo day, try it, my understanding of the world is not your understanding of the world so please, check it out at least if you can, aimus is very nice, I just think he's a bit stuck in his way for now.

I'm sure, or at least I hope, it'll be a bit more put together than mine, let's see.

Very interesting, although trying to figure out exactly what you mean.

If you are using a cane, you go in a straight line past the driveways until your cane feels the corner, then you know you have to turn right.

With the Glide, would it not do something similar? IE it would keep going and then stop when you hit the corner because it doesn't know which way you need to go? Or, what happens in that case?

I've never had a guide dog, so I don't know how they work in that case either.

I guess going forwards you would probably be able to plot a route and have it guide you the whole way, but presumably that's a little way down the line.

So is there a WeWalk smart cane in Brad's future?

I suspect this wouldn't be an issue. As stated a dog doesn't know when you need to turn so you have to tell it. In terms of drives if you think about it they are not much wider than a car certainly nowhere near as wide as even a 2 lane road so I suspect glide will realise this or at the very least say drive coming up do you want to go down it. MR G I think you press the relevant button to indicate turns. So if your say 10 seconds away from a road and you want to go left you press the left button and glide knows you want to turn at the next left. I think Brad was worried that if you press the left button and then pass a driveway glide will automatically think it is a left turn and take you down it.

Thinking about it I don't see the need for left and right buttons. Going back to the dog you control when to turn and even with a cane you choose when to turn. Surely, glide should do the same i.e keep you safe and feel as you start to turn. So instead of buttons maybe a handle that turns left and right and you turn it as you want and the wheels turn with you like a steeringwheel.. In the Brad case you may actually want to go down that drive. May suggest this now we have time.

Great point, I completely forgot, you're 100% correct. It's a third option and it's interesting enough to want me to at least try it for a month or so once I get it.