A sophisticated electric walking cane for the blind is ready for mass production by this summer, the National Science Council (NSC) said yesterday, stressing the need for increased development and training for open source software (OSS) technologies.
The cane uses five supersonic sensors and advanced OSS that can drastically improve quality of life for the visually impaired, the council said.
“Though this is not the first electric cane on the market, it is the most sophisticated,” said developer Wang Wen-fong (王文楓), a National Yunlin University of Science and Technology computer science and information engineering professor.
PHOTO: LIN CHIA-CHI, TAIPEI TIMES
Wang said that guide dogs are difficult and expensive to train and hoped the invention could be a viable alternative.
“The cane’s supersonic sensors can detect road conditions up to 4m ahead of the user, distinguish between a dry road and one with puddles and even sense whether a tree branch is low enough to hit the user’s head,” he said.
The cane is part of the NSC’s OSS and embedded OSS development program, said Kuo Yau-hwang (郭耀煌), a National Cheng-kung University computer science and information engineering professor and leader of the program.
“Though Taiwan’s information and communication technology industry is a world leader in terms of hardware development, a gap exists in OSS development,” Kuo said.
As such, the NSC plans to allocate NT$100 million (US$3 million) in grants to sponsor tertiary institutional research projects for OSS training and development, he said.
OSS, as opposed to closed-source software, is software whose source code is open or at least partially open to the public, meaning users are free to use, modify or redistribute it without having to ask for permission.
“The popularity of Linux-based personal notebooks [such as Asus’ Eee PC] and cellphones — which use OSS, unlike Microsoft’s Windows — has in recent years allowed the development of OSS to blossom,” Kuo said.
As OSS is becoming the future of software, Kuo said that the country urgently needs to invest in it, adding that he felt the engine to drive domestic OSS development was the nation’s university students.
“In the past year, the NSC sponsored 99 OSS research teams in schools. Together, we have developed about 50 OSS programs, involving 407 doctorate and masters students,” he said.
Progress has also been made on the walking cane and other projects such as WiMax research, Kuo said.
“We plan to develop more OSS in intelligent terminals, broadband communications, telematics and multiple-core systems, so that our hardware has an increased competitive edge in the global market,” he said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS