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:

EnhancementWhat 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 leftI can not see it, so I must  somehow know it’s status
 Cane balanceBetter balance makes the pedulum motion less stressful on the wristWith the lighter motion, the wrist is les susceptible to fatigue and RSI 
 Flashlight motionSwitch on automatically if I lift the cane One sure way of knowing that the cane lights up when I cross the road 
   

June 20 the VR videos of Heroes & Friends Amsterdam were shown for the firsttime. The same goes for Debby’s
Aankondiging VR filmpje
The collaboration between Debby and the Heroes & Friends of Amsterdam has resulted in a Virtual Reality (VR) movie about
Julian, Max and Calvin from VWO 4 of the Caland Lyceum in Amsterdam have worked on making the Marchena Lightup
    Students from Windesheim can follow an Honours Program in addition to their study program, in which they devise
The Marchena Lightupcane project has been selected for the Heroes of Amsterdam program (Site is in Dutch only).   Work
On 8 May 2019, Debby visited SightCity, the largest trade show for VIP devices in Europe. There was an incredible
Thursday 18 April there was an exhibition of Make Health III in Contact 020. Contact Amsterdam is a maker space
Debby had a lot of fun presenting the Lightupcane to the VIPs’ present and other interested parties, here are some
Debby’s Lightupcane was invited by Fred Boot, Employee Advice and Information, to present the luminous cane at Visio Heerhugowaard at
Royal Visio is the most prominent Dutch Organisation with the purpose to improve VIP Life, Social Inclusion and Mobility. Debby