Sensaball - Peter and Kathy Rickards

Unknown speaker (Theme)

New horizons, it's up to you and me To shine a guiding light and lead the way United by our cause, we have the power to pursue what we believe We'll achieve the realisation of our dreams...

Speaker 1

Hello, welcome to New Horizons for this week. I'm Vaughan Bennison, thanks for your company. This week we speak with Peter and Kathy Rickards, in recognition of International White Cane Day on the 15th of October. Why, you may ask? A new development in white cane technology, The Sensaball. Peter, we'll start with you. Tell me a little bit about your experience with using the cane and why you decided that a new tip needed to be developed. 

Speaker 2

Well, when I started getting mobility training about five years ago, I had a bad experience as most of us do. I was going around the block and caught the cane on the raised bit of the pavement and it jabbed me in the stomach. So I said to the mobility instructor, Do you have any other tips that aren't more multi-directional? And she said, No, we don't. So that's what started my journey with Rowan, my son who's got industrial design training. I said, Look, let's see if we can develop a multi-directional frictionless universally constant contact tip that can go on the end of the white cane for all people to use around the world. And that started our journey from there. 

Speaker 1

So did it surprise you to learn that such a thing didn't already exist? I mean, there are a number of different types of cane tips. Perhaps you could go into some detail about some of the tips you've used and why they weren't suitable.

Speaker 2 01:59

Well, you've got... The biggest tip you can get really is a ball tip and that wears out, so the other day we were going around the block and saw this fellow who had one, it was worn out like a pointy cone. So everywhere you go forwards with the normal types of tips they have friction on the ground you see and it causes all sorts of problems so it causes any contact with something solid or jerks through your arm and so forth... and a lot of people have long term problems with mobility cane use that they get RSI and so forth from constant use and this is one thing that was in the back of our minds as well... to say Well if we can develop a tip that's not going to cause that sort of issues then it'll be better for all people concerned.

Speaker 1 02:52

Mmm. 

Speaker 2

And of course, there are a number of different cane techniques, which are designed to to various different degrees ameliorate that problem. And, you know, they're not always suitable either for, as you mentioned, RSI is a good example of why some techniques are not practical. But some techniques have fallen out of favor. When I was very young, we, the tips we used were pencil tips, which were very thin. And they... contacted the ground, they gave good ground feedback. But as you say, whenever there was a crack or a step in the ground, you tended to end up with a cane in the guts.

And I remember a particular time, some years ago, when my wife was pregnant with our first child, she ended up with a cane in the guts and had belly pains for quite some time and was very concerned about the status of the fetus. So there's a whole lot of reasons why you might be concerned about that. 

Speaker 1

Talk a little bit about how you came up with the idea for Sensiball and how it works. 

Speaker 2

Well, it took us a number of years to get to the point where we've got a device called Sensaball. We named it Sensiball. And it can fit on all sorts of canes. It's almost a universal fit. I think there's only one cane that we found that doesn't fit. But it's also designed to have constant contact with the ground.

Speaker 1?  04:21

As you mentioned, the tap method, you don't end up covering a lot of all the ground that you're going to walk on. So you just tap left and tap right. And the middle bit is done... is unsurveyed, I guess.

Speaker 2 04:34

So our Sensiball, the idea of it is to constant contact. So you can sweep the ground in front of you. So you know that where you're going to walk is going to be safe. Particularly good when you're going downstairs, because you can feel the edge of each step, unlike the other types of tips.

Speaker 1 04:52

Kathy... Peter's mentioned that it has changed the way that he gets sighted guide and how he deals with being guided by a sighted person. What's it meant for you in terms of change? 

Speaker 3 05:35

A lot more relaxing. I still look, where I look for, I'm still looking where we're walking. 

Speaker 2 

She's still looking where she's walking but she doesn't have to tell me everything that's coming up, for example if we're going to a gutter, stepping down a gutter, she doesn't have to say down the gutter or up the gutter or we've got grass or something, I can just tell by the cane running in front of my feet that that surface is coming up and what I have to do to adjust myself to it. So, I mean even the best sighted guide in the world is not going to remember everything and you'll walk into something or trip over something or whatever and I'll say, Oh sorry, you know, looking somewhere else and with this Sensaball is a lot easier and less stress and more relaxing for sighted guide people to walk with.

Speaker 1 06:31

You've mentioned Peter a couple of times the way that you use your technique to make sure that the Sensaball actually works well for you. Have you had any discussions with orientation and mobility instructors and other professionals about the way that it might change cane techniques and what have their thoughts been?

Speaker 2 06:50

I've been doing a lot of on-road testing I suppose, coalface testing, so we've had blind people testing it all over all the time and we've had mobility instructors as well through Guide Dogs and Vision Australia testing the device and they're very happy with it. The other thing that's happened is that we have changed the design of it so that it's got a bit more echo-location facility. So the original one was a bit more softer. This one's got a bit more ability to give people more feedback on surfaces and so forth which is a great thing that we had response from blind users and also O&M mobility instructors on that issue as well.

Speaker 1 07:47

So what does it look like? Tell us what it looks like and how it works. 

Speaker 2

What you do is you stand your cane upside down so the tip is near your face, and then you just loosen the... the Sensaball has a multi-directional thread thing, so you just loosen it a little bit till it slips on your cane, then tighten it up - simple as that. If you've got a hook cane which doesn't have a... you can have a little, we've got a pencil tip modifier which is called a sensible hook adapter - which you can put on the end of your cane and put it on the end of the pencil tip.

Speaker 1? 

OK. What's it made from?

Speasker 2?

it's all different types of polyethylene plastic and so forth and the ball is actually nylon, so that it's going to be a very hard-wearing ball... but it doesn't even wear out, because you've got bearings, unlike other tips which wear out through friction when you go forwards. This one rolls forwards and sideways simultaneously so you never end up with the thing I've done 2000k on on one of my tips and it's just as good as new actually. 

Speaker 1

So I guess in a way from what you're explaining it it's a little bit like the tip of a ball roll a pen or a biro as it's often referred to - is that right?

Speaker 2 09:24

Yeah, a biro will go, a little ball tip will go in all directions... but if you tip the bar on an angle you can't ride well, it's got to be up and down. Whereas this this device will work if the cane is at any angle you can you can think of. Now what we wanted people to do is to go to our website www.sensaball.com.au - and if they're interested in pre-ordering one at a discount or donating an equivalent amount so we can donate some some Sensaballs to charities around the world that third world countries or even in Australia guide dogs or... Vision Australia, so the mobility instructors can have one in their hand to show people...+ or they can just make a donation to help us with the cost of of setting up the tooling which is very expensive as you can imagine for manufacture.

Speaker 1 10:32

So those are three options, people got to go to our website and find the kickstarter - click and then take it from there. And Kathy, we'll come back to you if we can - as a sighted person, what does this look like and... is it really obvious and is it well marked so that people can see that there's a cane running across the ground?

Speaker 3 10:51  

Yes well we haven't quite, I'm not sure what colours we're going to make it, but it'll probably be a red ball with a black casing, the section that attaches to the cane and it'll have a reflective tape around it. So the ones that we're using at the moment have been made out of 3D printing plastic from 3D printing because you can do one-offs with them, so but once they're manufactured they'll be a lot more clean finish.

Speaker? 11:36

Someone said to me once, what are you doing with that microphone in your hand? Because it looks a bit like a microphone in that it's got the narrow... a part that attaches to the white cane and then it's got this red ball at the top or at the end and they thought it was a microphone so you can visualise that. So from a size perspective we have a number of roller tips or ball tips whatever you want to call them and the largest one is the jumbo tip which is roughly in size analogous to a squash ball. 

Speaker 1

How big are we talking?

Speaker? 12:20

It's 75 grams in weight which is about the equivalent to two slices of bread. It's actually lighter than other ones on the market and it's only about it's a similar weight to that one, you're talking about the jumbo one, it's almost the same weight as that but a lot more intricate because you've got four bearings in it you've got all sorts of complicated technology there but because the ball is lighter and hollower, and you don't, it's not going to wear out easily you've got a lot less weight in those components equivalent to the other one but not... no real heavier.

Speaker 1 13:02

And Peter you mentioned tooling up for manufacturing... you obviously need to have a minimum number of orders in order to do that. What sort of time frame are we talking about? When are you anticipating getting it out into the hands of the public?

Speaker 2 13:18

Well we're looking at about eight weeks from... now because the tooling takes about eight weeks to deliver so about eight to ten weeks would would be the maximum time we would expect to have them in the hands of people who pre-ordered them at a discount rate.

Speaker 1 13:36

Excellent. Well I'm looking forward to receiving mine uh perhaps just in time for Christmas. Peter and Kathy, once again thanks for joining us on the program and uh the best of luck with getting the Sensaball off the ground-  and as I say, I really look forward to giving one a go.

Speaker ? 13:52

I just mentioned, can I just mention the website again... www.sensaball.com.au - sensaball dot com dot AU is that website and it's spelt S E N S A B A L L - so sensaball.com.au if you want to get involved in that kickstarter project.

Speaker 1 14:11

Blind Citizens Australia can be contacted by phone, 1800 033 660 is the telephone number, 1800 033 660. If you'd like to email, bca@bca.org.au is the email address - BCA at  BCA dot org dot AU. And as a reminder, the Blind Citizens Australia AGM is coming up in early December. Don't forget to register for that if you're a BCA member and are interested in attending the annual general meeting. I'm Vaughan Bennison. I'll talk to you again next week. 

(THEME) .... Of our dreams...