http://www.fastcompany.com/3059037/startup-report/how-one-blind-marathon-runner-is-using-technology-to-run-solo
How One Blind Marathon Runner Is Using Technology To Run Solo
Of the 27,487 runners who traversed the city of Boston this year for the
marathon, 39 were visually impaired.
Running a marathon blind can be terrifying: Hordes of runners are bolting
toward you, crowds scream from the sidelines, and you have no idea if you're
about to crash into someone ahead of you. But for 31-year-old Simon Wheatcroft,
a blind Englishman who completed the marathon on Monday, there is nothing more
exhilarating.
"I want to take it all in," he tells Fast Company. "I want to enjoy the sounds
of the other runners and the people cheering."
Simon Wheatcroft
Marathon organizers pair blind runners with guides who run at the same pace,
sometimes even connected by a rope. While Wheatcroft ran with two guides on
Monday, eventually he would like to be able to run a marathon independently.
"The idea of running solo has always been in the back of my mind," he says.
"I've been dreaming about it for four years. It took me some time to become
mentally comfortable with the concept. "
He believes that technology is the key to making this happen. He points out
that there are already many different tools on the market—like sophisticated
GPS navigation and motion sensors—that could help visually impaired runners.
It's just a matter of putting them together into a customized tool.
Over the last month, Wheatcroft has been collaborating with IBM to develop an
iPhone app allowing him to navigate a marathon course without help. He tested
it out for the first time at Monday's marathon. Little signals alerted him
whenever he veered too far to the right or left, so he didn't worry about going
off course.
"I could enjoy the race. I could listen to the crowd," Wheatcroft says. "The
app only alerted me if I went wrong. The rest of the time, it was completely
silent."
Mini documentary about how Simon Wheatcroft began running solo.
Running Blind
At the age of 13, Wheatcroft discovered he had a degenerative eye disease and
by 17, he had lost his vision completely.
Before he tried running, he tried climbing. He had the romantic notion of
asking his girlfriend to marry him from the top of a mountain in California.
But as he began the journey, he realized the ascent would be far more difficult
than he had anticipated. There were too many dangerous cliffs and crevices to
circumvent; too many ways to get hurt. In the end, he was forced to propose
halfway up the mountain, and although she said yes, he still felt defeated.
"It was just too hard," Wheatcroft says. "But then I had to live with the fact
that I had to quit climbing. It plagued me."
When the couple returned to England, Wheatcroft decided he would never again
abandon a challenge because of his blindness. Running seemed insurmountably
difficult to him at the time. But while many blind people avoid running
altogether because it is just too complicated, Wheatcroft was determined not
only to become a runner, but to run on his own, without having to depend on a
guide.
"When I started, I ran into lampposts and traffic lights and trees," he
recalls. When you're charging forward at a high velocity, anything you crash
into can cause pain. Cars may not see you in time to stop. Dog walkers and
parents with strollers are unable to get out of the way quickly enough. Early
on, he remembers feeling an occasional rush of horror that something might
happen to him.
"The biggest challenge is mental: You can't be fearful," Wheatcroft says. "You
have to just absolutely convince yourself that this is possible."
Wheatcroft initially kept to safe spaces, like the distance between goal posts
on a football pitch, but he eventually got bored of this. When he ran on the
street, he discovered that people don't generally get out of the way, expecting
runners to dodge them. So contrary to widely accepted notions of safe running,
he decided to run on the side of the freeway, where there is a wide berth away
from the cars and no human traffic.
Over the last six years, Wheatcroft has evolved into a serious long-distance
runner. In 2014, he ran from Boston to New York, then completed the New York
Marathon, covering a total of 240 miles in nine days. On May 1, he will begin a
seven-day run in the Namibian desert for a 160-mile ultra-marathon.
Simon Wheatcroft running with Google Glass.
Technology Solutions
There are currently no apps specifically designed for the blind running
community. When Wheatcroft began running in 2010, he relied on apps designed
for sighted runners. He started using Runkeeper several years ago, which allows
him to map out a route, track his speed, and receive audio signals that inform
him when he needs to turn left or right. When Google Glass came out, he
immediately saw its potential for blind runners. But none of these technologies
are perfectly suited to his needs.
Wheatcroft is determined to create his own app. While training for the Boston
Marathon, Wheatcroft began searching for a technology partner to help him on
his quest. He decided to reach out to IBM, knowing that the Runkeeper app runs
on the IBM Cloud. IBM invited him to London to visit the Bluemix Garage, its
developer space, where he pitched the engineers there an idea for an app for
visually impaired runners. IBM quickly came on board, agreeing to create an app
for him pro bono.
As Wheatcroft describes his ideal app, he points out that he doesn't want the
navigation to be too noisy. The GPS systems he's used so far have had elaborate
directions communicated in complete sentences; he'd prefer a series of little
sounds.
"We thought subtle beeps were far more immediate than hearing 'left' and
'right'," he says. "I don't want to be taken out of the social experience of
the race."
Wheatcroft also says that the GPS systems built into most consumer devices are
only accurate to 10 or 20 meters. "When you're running on an edge of a cliff, a
difference of 10 meters is an issue," he points out. IBM has outfitted this new
app with a more advanced external GPS receiver that gives directions that are
accurate to five meters.
Wheatcroft piloted a version of the app at the Boston Marathon on Monday. It
was a good testing ground because the course is fairly simple with only two
turns. The app allowed him to focus on the race and gave him confidence that he
was on the right path. To gather even more feedback about the app, he will
bring it with him to Namibia at the end of the month for a seven-day run in the
desert, which will be rather more treacherous and require the device to have an
extended battery life.
"This is very much an iterative process," Wheatcroft explains, describing how
he's tweaked the various audio feedback mechanisms to make them clearer. "We
wanted to create a minimum viable product in a week and then continue making
changes as I take it on the road with me. We test one thing at a time."
While the app Wheatcroft has built with IBM is an improvement on the generic
running apps on the market, he believes there is a lot more it should be able
to do. He wants the app to be able to explain what objects are directly in
front of him and provide dynamic directions that respond to the immediate
environment. This would require the app to be able to scan his surroundings and
then have an artificial intelligence system, such as Watson, that would
determine the best course. He'd also like to create a belt that will vibrate so
that he won't need to depend on the beeps from the phone. He's currently
working with developers at IBM to find ways of achieving these goals.
He's also very keen on Google's Project Tango, a technology that will give
mobile devices spatial vision using sensors, motion tracking, depth perception,
and image processing. Google is currently selling developer kits so that it can
be tailored to a range of purposes, like helping customers navigate through a
store. But Wheatcroft believes that it could be game-changing for blind runners.
Ultimately, he's hoping to create an app that will be widely and inexpensively
available to the entire blind community. While IBM holds the intellectual
property surrounding this technology, a company spokesperson says it has no
plans to monetize the app because it is such a specialized use case.
"It's more of an exercise in exploring the limits of human computer
interaction," the spokesperson explains.
Meanwhile, Wheatcroft is very excited about the possibility of putting out an
app that will work on any iPhone.
"I don't particularly like using any device that is specifically made for the
visually impaired because it's usually super expensive and super clunky," he
says. While Wheatcroft is testing the technology on his runs, a user doesn't
have to be a runner to see a benefit from this app.
"We're creating a core technology that allows you to navigate using beeps and
haptic, which can then be applied so broadly to lots of situations," Wheatcroft
says. That means whether you're running marathons in Namibia or just finding
your way around a store, Wheatcroft's app could vastly improve life for blind
people everywhere.
Sent from my iPhone
