We recently had the opportunity to start an exciting new collaboration with Friedman Place, a nonprofit supportive living community for adults who are blind/low vision. Friedman Place is dedicated to providing housing and supportive services that emphasize self-determination, independence, and active participation within the community. As part of this collaboration, we brought evaluation prototypes of our haptic-enhanced white cane directly to the residents of Friedman Place.

This is adapted from my recent essay, “I’m Going Blind… Are We There Yet?” I’m going blind. “Going blind” is an odd phrase, isn’t it? It sounds like I’m traveling a well-worn path toward some old, familiar destination. But nothing could be further from the truth. If it were really that simple, the journey would be less terrifying, and much easier to bear. In his book Country of the Blind, Andrew Leland suggests that the phrase “becoming blind” is more fitting. I agree. The tr

We recently had the opportunity to start collaborating with the School Association for Special Education of DuPage County (SASED) and orientation and mobility instructors at Northern Illinois University (NIU). We provided each group with prototype haptic-enhanced white canes for their students. The growing success of this charitable white cane project has been achieved through the combined efforts of our Lake Forest College research students, the generous financial contributi

Three of our dedicated and talented research students—Paul Benjamin (’28), Amal Khan (’28), and Nick Abraham (’26)—had the distinct honor of presenting their innovative research at the recent 2026 Steven Galovich Memorial Student Symposium, held at the Lake Forest College.

The current Haptics Research students were featured on the college Facebook and LinkedIn pages...

The current Haptics Research students were featured on the college Facebook and LinkedIn pages...

The current Haptics Research students were featured on the college Facebook and LinkedIn pages...

The current Haptics Research students were featured on the college Facebook and LinkedIn pages...

Here, the cane is being used in an experiment to determine if it's more effective for avoiding obstacles (all those empty cardboard boxes) than a standard white cane... it was. In various experiments, it reduced collisions by as much as 90%.

Summa Pasupulati (pictured) and Will Cleveland presented their recent data on the efficacy of the haptic enhanced white cane at the 2024...

...at the 2023 Glassman Memorial Brain, Mind, and Behavior Symposium. This newest project is in development... and soon to be beta-tested.

Maddy has been a great help to us as we refine our project... thank you, Maddy!

Ben is navigating the science building hallways at Northeastern Illinois University relying only on HAPTICS. I try to confuse him... but...

When Sybil tried the Proximity Jacket, she did absolutely wonderfully...She was able to navigate through several hallways in the NEIU...

Adilenne talks about her experience navigating hallways in our building guided only by the Proximity Jacket prototype... and how quickly...

Haynes Rosson, a Lake Forest College student working in our lab, just completed a study to determine which haptic stimuli are perceived...

As we improve our software, our volunteers are finding it easier and more intuitive to rely on haptics to guide them. Here, Adillene is...

We're steadily improving our Proximity Jacket. Watch this young volunteer walk around a crooked wall, guided by our haptic jacket that...

Can vibrations help when vision is missing? We are testing the latest version of our distance sensing hardware and software. This student...

We are building our third generation Proximity Jacket. Or, as some of our young people call it, "the magic jacket".