Welcome to our website and join us to improve the lives of visually impaired and blind people (Visually Impaired Persons, henceforth VIP.s). We welcome everyone to take an active part in making our world a little better and to involve more and more people in society or in general every day.
After a collision by a motorist who had not seen her in the dark in bad weather, Debby decided to do something about the problem of the poor visibility of the VIPs with a traditional white cane. She thought that she could increase her visibility by replacing her traditional cane with a luminous cane. Such a cane did not exist yet. So Debby has developed a luminous blind cane, the “Marchena LightupCane”. The other road users find De Marchena LightupCane a no-brainer. They see this cane from afar, and that is much safer.
The Marchena LightupCane
The “blind cane” is the main tool for the VIPs to make their presence clear and to transfer their course to other road users. The original white cane was introduced almost a hundred years ago and has proven its worth.
Now that new technology is available, we can improve the white cane by adding the “light” element.
- Increases the visibility of the VIP
- Increases the recognisability of the VIP as a VIP from larger distances, meters save lives in traffic
- Improves safety of the VIP
- Improves the functionality of the cane for the VIP
In short, De Marchena LightupCane increases safety for the VIP in traffic. The other road users get more time to respond.
Debby’s goal is that 30% of visually impaired people use the Marchena LightupCane before 2025 and that in 2030 the algorithms in self-driving cars and Smart Cities recognize and respond to her networked stick.
This will have a huge positive impact of VIP safety, mobility and quality of life.
And you can help, Donate!
We have our first prototype ready and plan the next generation with the much needed improvements.
And you can help, donate!
The VIPs testing the “Marchena LightupCane” now give valuable feedback, here is the list:
| Enhancement | What does it do? | Why do we need it? |
| Make it collapse able – Completed! | Enables me to easily store the cane | Comfort and freedom of clutter |
| Flashlight feedback – We’re on it! | Informs me of the status of the flashlight, on / off, 2 hour, 1 hour battery life left | I can not see it, so I must somehow know it’s status |
| Cane balance | Better balance makes the pedulum motion less stressful on the wrist | With the lighter motion, the wrist is les susceptible to fatigue and RSI |
| Flashlight motion | Switch on automatically if I lift the cane | One sure way of knowing that the cane lights up when I cross the road |
