There's a home video of me about one year old,
with a remote control trying to fit it together, and my family collectively
agree that was the moment that she was meant to be an inventor.
>> I'm Nia, I am a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Bath, and
I'm the founder of Compact Cane.
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Mechanical engineering teaches you to problem solve and
user-centred design keeps the user at the centre of the product or the solution.
So when you pair the two together, you are really well equipped to create
products that are both meaningful and purposeful.
I was given the brief to improve the white cane as my university project and
I realised that I had no idea what I was doing.
I had no real true perception of what visual impairment was like.
So I went out and did some user needs research.
>> My vision currently is about 95%.
So the only thing I can see is light.
It is hard for me to navigate new places.
I struggle with reading, writing, things like that.
I first met Nia, about two years ago.
For the first couple of meetings in fact,
we just discussed, what is it to be someone with visual impairment,
and how does a white cane help me in my everyday life?
I can list a range of things that make me feel
that the white cane is quite insufficient.
It doesn't give you any information,
it doesn't even give you information that's within an arm's reach.
The only thing it prevents you from doing is banging into objects.
It doesn't help you direct yourself either.
>> I think the concern amongst a lot of visually impaired people who use
long white canes, the cane becomes a label, it's quite bulky.
It does fold up, but it doesn't easily fit into your pocket, so it's not discreet.
I think when I first met Nia she first of all sent me an email,
'would you be interested...?' And I thought, yeah, why not.
Come in, we'll have a chat.
So I gave her a long cane and we're going up and
down the corridor and she was going all over the place.
So it gave her a good idea of what it was like to use a cane and
how difficult it was to actually walk in a straight line.
It was an interesting meeting and
it gave her a good idea I think about where she wanted to go a little bit more
and what was important when she was taking that forward.
>> The idea for Compact Cane started on a piece of paper.
From that point, I essentially used the skills that I was
taught to start designing what the product would look like in 3D.
So looking at it in different views. Do these iterations called build,
test, feedback and revise, where essentially, you're creating an idea,
whether that's on a sketch, or an actual physical prototype and
you give it to a focus group and get feedback.
>> I find it useful, especially when we got to the top of the stairs.
You could feel the vibration.
I walked over to the window, and I felt the vibration,
because I was near the table, and I said, "It's still vibrating."
She said, "that's because I'm stood in front of it," and when she moved it stopped.
>> She would build a prototype, she would bring it to me.
She would have ideas like, would you like it on your wrist?
Would you like it to become invisible?
>> Every time we meet each other, we have a catch up about how it's gone,
how the product has progressed.
And it's been interesting to see it develop from an idea in her head to
a little box that didn't do very much, to an actual, physical device,
that's fully working and looks amazing
>> Compact Cane is a digital white cane for visually impaired people.
Compact Cane uses invisible ultrasonic waves and
communicates the proximity of obstacles through vibrations.
So like a parking sensor, if something is close by, the vibrations will be a high
intensity high frequency. If it's further away, it's a low intensity, low frequency.
So, you'll be able to walk around a room and like a white cane,
feel where the obstacles are.
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>> As a society, we're surrounded by problems, everyday problems.
And I think the great thing about innovative people is that they see those
problems and they think, I can fix that, I know how to fix that.
The only way that that's going to actually be sustainable is to then create a business
and to commercialise it.
As part of SETsquared, the Innovation Centre is a soft landing for
graduates when they finish university.
Nia won the Graduate Innovation Award and it meant that she could come straight down
here and get stuck into the business, and for us to be able to support her.
>> When I found out I was an Alumni Innovation Award winner,
it was first met with a load of excitement and then the realisation of, my gosh,
what am I doing, this is a huge risk!
But I definitely believe I've become a more holistic engineer,
where I'm not only about designing a product, I have to think about everything.
So, I have to think about the detail in the manufacturing and
analysing materials, but also thinking about the business aspect as well.
>> I think the one way in which I've definitely seen her grow a lot more now
is her business sense of something.
She knows that she wants to strike a balance between building something that's
very niche yet something that's a little more sellable.
You're not doing it for yourself any longer you're doing it for a market.
>> Nia has been doing pitch training, she's been meeting investors and
practising her negotiation skills.
She's been working with mentors on her business plan and her financial modelling.
These are really core skills, that are going to help all through Nia's career.
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>> I hope that Nia succeeds because she's so committed, and she's got so
much faith in the product.
>> From the moment she walked in, she's very relaxed and easy to talk to.
So young, yet being so dedicated.
>> When I compare Compact Cane with the white cane,
it just makes me feel that the Compact Cane gives me a lot of independence and
it makes me feel more confident.
I'm gonna be the first person to ever buy this product.
>> It's a very hard market, but I think she's iterating the idea.
I think she's talking to lots of people and I think it has the potential to go far.
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>> I have a deep assurance that this is what I'm meant to be doing at this point
in time.
That's what motivates me to keep on going.
I look forward to the days of walking down the street and seeing someone using
a Compact Cane and seeing the confidence that it gives them in their own identity.
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