WeWALK Impressions User manual

© 2021 Jutta Miroiu-Dunker 1
Impressions
WeWalk Smart Cane

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 2
Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................3
What's in the Box...............................................................................................4
Assembling the Cane..........................................................................................5
First Feel ............................................................................................................6
The Handle.........................................................................................................7
Top.................................................................................................................7
Back Side........................................................................................................8
Front Side.......................................................................................................8
The App .............................................................................................................9
Touchpad and Gestures .....................................................................................9
Sound and Sounds .............................................................................................9
Navigation Options ..........................................................................................10
Explore.............................................................................................................10
GPS and Location.............................................................................................10
Transport.........................................................................................................11
Obstacle Detection ..........................................................................................11
Conclusion .......................................................................................................13
Things I Would Like to See Improved ...............................................................13

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 3
Introduction
Thanks to FITA (Foundation for Information Technology) I had the opportunity
to try the WeWalk Smart Cane with obstacle detection for a few days in my
environment. I was excited to learn more about this new cane in a hands-on
way.
I think I should mention that I am legally blind, but I would still consider myself
partially sighted with some remaining peripheral vision.
In this document, I will give you my thoughts and impressions about this new
device.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 4
What's in the Box
Upon opening, I first found the User Manual as a normally printed booklet and
two sheets with instructions a quick guide printed and embossed in braille.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 5
Underneath the documentation, the box contains the WeWalk handle that
holds the entire technology, a foldable white cane to assemble with the
handle, an adapter to use the WeWalk handle with your own cane, a USB
charging cable, and a faux leather sleeve for the handle.
Assembling the Cane
I was fighting a little bit with the assembly, because the ends of the
elastic strip somehow made it difficult to thread the cane into the
handle.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 6
After some attempts, I managed to attach the handle tight onto the cane part.
Attaching the handle to my own cane is something I did not try, because then
you need to remove (literally cut off) your cane's original handle and make
sure you do not lose the elastic strap because you will have to pull it through
the adapter that needs to be attached to the cane. The diameter of the cane
also would have to be taken into consideration for using the adapter.
First Feel
The handle feels solid, and the roller tip is swiveling freely. The cane part feels
sturdy.
With about 250 g, the WeWalk handle is rather heavy.
Thanks to its cylindric shape, the handle rest well in the palm of my hand. It
will fit for smaller and bigger hands.
When lifting the assembled cane, it is much heavier than my normal long white
cane. Maybe for the heavy handle I had the impression as if the cane
altogether was not as sturdy as my own one.
If the WeWalk was my cane, I would have changed the elastic wrist strap,
which is rather lose and not well designed in length and strength to keep the
folded cane together.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 7
Talking about folding the cane: My first attempt to fold the
cane left me with the handle and the first segment stuck
together.
I had to pull hard on the first segment to get it out for
folding.
The Handle
Top
The user manual warns you that in case of heavy or
prolonged rain you should switch the handle off and
protect it immediately to avoid malfunction and/or
damage. The handle cover is supposed to be waterproof,
but I did not test it.
The USB port is not covered and/or
designed in a way that it would be
protected against water and/or dust.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 8
Back Side
The backside of the handle holds the power
ON/OFF button and the speaker/microphone for
voice communication. Further down is some braille
text, but I do not know what it says because I don't
read braille.
These elements again seem not water and/or dust
protected. Neither do the screws holding the parts
of the handle together.
When you hold the cane while walking, the power
button is far away enough from your fingers so you
would not accidentally touch it.
Front Side
On the front of the handle there are two switch-like
buttons where you should place your thumb to get
a better haptic feedback when the cane is vibrating.
Below this is a touchpad for navigating though the
app and other functions built-in in the handle itself.
Then there is the main feature of the cane, the
ultrasonic sensor for obstacle detection
Finally, the front side of the handle has
an LED light that serves for indication of
the cane status. It can as well be turned
on by a touchpad gesture as a visual
indicator for others, e.g., in the dark
Again, I have to say that these elements seem not
water and/or dust protected.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 9
The App
I had downloaded the WeWalk app for Android on my Samsung Galaxy A72.
The English version of the app is fine, but it also supports several languages.
However, for German, my native language, the translation is poor. Spanish and
French are poor as well. Main translation problem I found with respect to the
navigation. I would not judge the other languages though.
Pairing the cane with my smartphone via Bluetooth was easy. The only issue I
had upon first time pairing, that the system told me that my smartphone
would not support voice output through the cane. This, however, did not
happen again in subsequent pairing attempts.
Touchpad and Gestures
After pairing, the system prompted me to go through a tutorial how to use the
cane's touchpad and to learn the touchpad gestures used for opening and
closing the app, navigating through the menus, and switching the LED light on
or off.
Some gestures, like sound on/off and LED on/off would require holding the
cane with one hand and perform the gesture with two fingers of the other
hand. This might not always be very practical.
The touchpad did not easily respond to my finger gestures, especially the two-
finger-gestures, even though I was not wearing gloves.
Sound and Sounds
In a noisy environment, especially in a busy street, it is basically impossible to
hear the cane's voice output, even if the volume is set to maximumt. To
understand voice feedback and instructions, one would have to connect
earphones to the smartphone. The same applies when trying to use the voice
assistant to "talk" to your cane.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 10
Hidden in the Notifications tab under the app menu, it is possible to set
different sounds for, e.g., "battery low" warning, "power on". You can even
select a sound for a warning "horn". The Horn feature needs to be enabled in
Preferences and can be activated by touchpad gestures. This can be handy at
times to warn others.
Navigation Options
In the settings of the app, you can select to have distances in metric or imperial
units.
Another option allows you to choose different ways how directions are given.
In addition to the "turn right/left…", directions can be given cardinal, e.g., "go
north-west…", or like hours on an analog clock, e.g., "11 clock" would indicate
to go slightly left. I personally like this "clock-wise" navigation.
Explore
The Explore function lists places like shops, cafes, etc. near you. It is., however,
not as comprehensive as, e.g., Google Maps and missed many shops and food
places in my immediate vicinity.
GPS and Location
Location precision is an issue not only with the WeWalk cane. However, if the
app locates you on the opposite side of the street, starting directions are
mostly not correct. Besides that, there is a repeated "location accuracy"
warning and restoring of location accuracy.
The WeWalk allows the user to actively share his/her current location in
various ways. The drawback is, that the recipient m must have the WeWalk
app to open the and see the location.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 11
Transport
The WeWalk correctly indicated the nearest bus stop as well as other bus stops
in my environment. The announcement of the next busses to come was correct
to the minute.
Obstacle Detection
Once you power the WeWalk can on, it can detect obstacles by means of its
ultrasonic sensor on the handle. My dog probably could hear the ultrasound,
because he got away from me immediately when I switched the cane on.
When it detects an obstacle, the handle starts vibrating. If you place your
thumb on the two little buttons on the upper side of the handle, the vibration
can be felt a bit better in your finger.
The detection range apparently can be set in the app's preferences, but I could
not figure the real difference between the options.
For obstacle detection the cane must not be paired with your smartphone and
the app can be closed. This feature is built-in in the handle itself.

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 12
First using the WeWalk cane in the house, I tried various objects, including
glass tables, chairs, fridge, chest of drawers, etc. All obstacles were detected at
a distance of approximately 15-20 centimeters in front of my cane tip.
Then I tried with laundry on my laundry ropes. Some of the laundry was
detected at about chest level, but others were not because the material was
rather soft and thin so the ultrasound apparently could just travel through it.
I was curious and stretched a rope, similar to those rope barriers found at the
airport, would be detected. The positive surprise was, that the WeWalk did
vibrate when approaching the rope, but only for a very short moment. That is,
the moment the cane moved further underneath the rope, the vibration
stopped.
By the way: Placing the WeWalk cane on a table while obstacle detection is
switched on is not a good idea. It will detect any obstacle like a hanging lamp
shade and start vibrating. Besides that, even if there is no visible obstacle
above it and it is not touched or moved, it starts vibrating once in a while.
The vibration for solid and soft obstacles is the same. Also, there is no way to
differentiate whether the obstacle is in front of your body or on head level.
After these small tests, I took the cane out in the street. Moving the WeWalk
for obstacle detection on street level is more difficult than with my normal
cane because of the weight and the strain I felt in my hand. When scanning
with the cane using constant contact technique, the contact vibration is much
stronger than with my normal cane. Besides that, I had the feeling it was not as
sturdy, but that could be because I tried to move it extra carefully not to cause
damage to it.
Waking on a narrow sidewalk with walls on one side, parking cars on the other,
and branches and bushes hanging in my way, it was quite a challenge for the
cane as well as for me. I paid attention that the sensor was pointing up and not
sideways. To be able to feel the vibration from the obstacle detection, I had to
slow down my pace because of the contact vibration in the cane itself. With my
normal pace, I felt I always was one step ahead before I could feel the
vibration. The detection vibration occurred basically with each and every step I
made when scanning the ground in front of me, because the WeWalk detected
the walls and the cars a bit further away than my cane tip. Hanging bushes or
branches were detected only partially. Small branches with thin leaves seem to
be hard to detect. But even when branches were detected, it was difficult for
me to maneuver around them trying to find a clear path between hanging
branches, walls, and cars, especially when you do not know for which obstacle
the vibration is on. I also got the impression that the WeWalk produced many

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 13
"false positive" and vibrated when I could not make out any obstacle that
should have been detected.
Conclusion
As the WeWalk produces say: The WeWalk Smart Cane is not supposed to
replace proper Orientation & Mobility Training.
You definitely need the orientation, protection, and cane techniques taught
during O&M training.
I like the idea and the concept behind the WeWalk Smart Cane, but at its
current stage, I personally do not see an advantage over my normal long white
cane when it comes to obstacle detection, since it is still me who has to figure
out where the obstacle is. And for navigation I can easily use other apps on my
smartphone, especially given that I would have to connect earphones in either
case.
Besides that, there are blind/visually impaired persons who do not have a
smartphone, so the app functions could not be used.
Things I Would Like to See Improved
•Water/dust protected handle and its elements
•Less weight of the handle
•Less contact vibration in the cane itself
•Shorter but more elastic wrist strap for holding the folded cane together
•Better responsiveness of the touchpad, especially two-finger-gestures
•Voice message when there are no ( more) menu items
•"Torch" function for those with some residual vision
•Better sound volume and/or option to pair speakerphone with the handle
itself
•GPS location sharing with apps other than WeWalk
•"Tracking" function, so that the cane user can be located in case of
emergency

© 2021 Malta Society of the Blind 14
•(If any possible) different vibration and/or sound for obstacles at different
heights (upper body, head, …)
•WeWalk functionality fully integrated in handle, no need for smartphone,
using mobile data connection