Austrian company Tec-Innovation recently unveiled smart shoes that use ultrasonic sensors to help people suffering from blindness or vision impairment to detect obstacles up to four meters away.

奥地利公司Tec-Innovation近期推出了一款智能鞋，可以通过超声波传感器帮助盲人或视力障碍者探测到四米远的障碍物。

Known as InnoMake, the smart shoe aims to become an alternative to the decades-old walking stick that millions of people around the world depend on to get around as safely as possible. The currently available model relies on sensors to detect obstacles and warns the wearer via vibration and an audible alert sounded on a Bluetooth-linked smartphone. That sounds impressive enough, but the company is already working on a much more advanced version that incorporates cameras and artificial intelligence to not only detect obstacles but also their nature.

这款名为InnoMake的智能鞋旨在替代几十年来全球数百万人赖以安全活动的拐杖。目前能买到的这款鞋子依靠传感器来探测障碍物，并通过蓝牙智能手机发出振动和铃声来警告穿着者。听上去够酷的了，不过该公司已经开始研发包含摄像头和人工智能技术的升级版鞋子，不仅可以探测到障碍物，还可以检测出是何种障碍物。

"Not only is the warning that I am facing an obstacle relevant, but also the information about what kind of obstacle I am facing. Because it makes a big difference whether it’s a wall, a car or a staircase,” Markus Raffer, one of the founders of Tec-Innovation, told TechXplore.

Tec-Innovation公司的创始人之一马库斯·拉费尔告诉科技媒体TechXplore说：“这款鞋子不但会警告你前方有障碍物，还可以告诉你是何种障碍物。因为墙壁、车和楼梯这些障碍物之间差别很大。”

"Ultrasonic sensors on the toe of the shoe detect obstacles up to four meters away. The wearer is then warned by vibration and/or acoustic signals. This works very well and is already a great help to me personally,” Raffer, himself visually impaired, added.

拉费尔本人就有视力障碍，他补充道：“鞋尖上的超声波传感器可以探测到四米远的障碍物。穿着者会收到振动或铃声警告。这款鞋效果很好，对我本人帮助很大。”

The current version of the InnoMake shoe is already available for purchase on the Tec-Innovation website, for