Chapter 53 Testing

However, simulation is just simulation. As the saying goes: practice is the sole criterion for testing truth, and the same holds true for any product.

After tidying up the room slightly—there was a distance of about seven or eight meters from the doorway to the window—he deliberately placed a few obstacles along the path.

Walking back to the door, he fished out a black band from somewhere and wrapped it tightly around his eyes twice, ensuring he couldn't even perceive the ambient light and shadow of the outside world, before picking up the white cane.

He put on his Bluetooth earphones.

With practiced familiarity, his thumb pressed down on a tiny protrusion at the end of the grip and gave it a gentle twist.

[Beep—]

[Bluetooth connected.]

The white cane in his hand delivered a timely, brief vibration to confirm the successful Bluetooth connection.

This was precisely the element Zhou Yun considered most crucial in the design of the white cane: feedback.

Unlike ordinary people who have eyes and can distinguish many feedback mechanisms without vibration, blind people cannot. They must rely on tactile or auditory feedback to feel a sense of security.

As his vision plunged into complete darkness, an unprovoked sense of unease welled up in his heart. Even though he knew there was nothing around him, he still felt his hair standing on end.

His grip on the white cane tightened.

Tap~

Zhou Yun gently tapped the white cane against the floor in front of him, and the solid wood flooring transmitted a clear tactile feedback.

Well, at least it qualified as a regular white cane.

Leaning on the cane, he began to move forward slowly.

Tap~ Tap~ Tap~

With every tap, the sensor built into the cane tip silently scanned a circular area centered around the tip. Since no obstacles had been encountered yet, there was no prompt.

After walking a few steps, the first obstacle was only a little over a meter away from him.

Tap!

The cane tip tapped the floor lightly once more.

Buzz... Buzz...

Two clear, short vibrations came from inside the handle.

Simultaneously, a prompt sounded in his earphones.

[Obstacle detected to the front-left, please detour to the right. There are no steps on the right side, please rest assured.]

According to the prompt, Zhou Yun detoured slightly. When he passed the obstacle, he reached out and felt it—sure enough, it was the suitcase he had placed there in advance.

After that, relying on the white cane, he successfully walked up to the window.

Although it was evident that the white cane had a certain utility, the indoor environment could not bring out its full functionality. To put it bluntly, what had been tested so far could also be accomplished by an ordinary white cane.

The so-called smart white cane was essentially just equipped with a few extra voice prompts.

In contrast, the complex and ever-changing outdoor pavements, suddenly appearing vehicles, imperceptible steps, and crowded streams of people... those were the real challenges blind people faced in their daily lives, and the things that could threaten their lives.

However, he couldn't possibly go out onto the street and cosplay as a blind person just to test this gadget. Leaving aside whether that would be foolish or not, even though he was confident in the quality of what he had built, he lacked any actual experience with blindness, and going out alone to test it would simply be too dangerous.

Ideally, he should find a blind person to test it while he supervised from the side. That way, nothing should go wrong.

Naturally, Lin Wei came to mind—the girl he had met a few days ago.

He wondered if she was still in Jiangcheng. Putting the white cane aside, he sent her a message.

[I am Zhou Yun, do you remember me?]

In another hotel room, Lin Wei was listening to music when she felt her phone vibrate.

Someone had sent her a message?

The phone's built-in TalkBack feature directly read the message aloud.

Zhou Yun?

The girl tilted her head and thought for a moment, a slight smile curving the corners of her lips. She remembered him; he was a very nice person.

[I remember. Is there something I can help you with?]

Looking at the voice message that was replied to almost instantly, Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow.

After pondering for a moment and organizing his thoughts, he pressed the send button.

[I recently made a smart white cane. Although I did a simple blindfolded test of its basic detection functions in my room, I feel like it's still too far removed from a real environment. Besides, I'm not blind myself, so I don't know if it's genuinely useful. Are you still in Jiangcheng? If you are, would you be willing to spare some time to help me test it out in the field?]

The phone vibrated again, and Zhou Yun's voice came through the earphones.

Upon hearing this message, a trace of surprise appeared on Lin Wei's face.

A smart white cane? Subconsciously, her hand brushed against the white cane beside her that had accompanied her for several years. Its tip had been worn somewhat smooth, and holding it in her hand felt familiar and reassuring.

Instead of agreeing immediately, she asked a question.

[How did you suddenly think of making a smart white cane?]

[I ran into you on the road before and saw that you were by yourself. Even though you had a white cane, it still looked quite inconvenient. At the time, I was thinking that if a white cane could be a bit 'smarter', perhaps it could make your lives more convenient and safer. So when I got back, I looked up some information and found out there are actually so many visually impaired people across the country, and the products on the market are all quite expensive. That's why I wanted to try making one myself. I suppose... I was touched by your experience, and after all, isn't that what technology is all about?]

Listening to the voice message playing from her phone, Lin Wei couldn't describe the emotion welling up inside her.

Someone she had crossed paths with by sheer coincidence had put so much thought into it just because of a simple passing encounter. Her fingers gently stroked the smooth head of her white cane, and a wave of warmth surged through her heart.

[I'm still in Jiangcheng, and I'm willing to help you test it. Can we meet at the entrance of Huake University?] The girl's voice trembled slightly; the kindness of a stranger always brought a stinging sensation to the bridge of her nose for people like her.

[How about you send me your address? Saves you the trip, since going out alone can be quite troublesome anyway.]

Lin Wei wiped the corner of her eye. He truly was a wonderful person.

[Thank you, but there's no need to put you through the trouble of traveling. My friend is with me, so we can just meet at the school gate.]

[Alright, let's meet at the school gate then. When do you have time? Preferably the next two days, because I might have to leave after that.]

[How about tomorrow morning at nine o'clock? Would that work?]

[Great, see you tomorrow.]

[See you tomorrow.]

Having settled the time, Zhou Yun stopped looking at his phone and instead connected the white cane to his computer to run the final debugging checks. Since it was going to be used tomorrow, it would be bad if any bugs popped up.

Meanwhile, over at the hotel where Lin Wei was staying.

A girl in pajamas was rubbing her damp hair as she emerged from the bathroom, only to find Lin Wei sitting on the bed with slightly red corners of her eyes.

"Weiwei?" With the towel still draped over her head, she hurried over to the bed and sat down, "What's wrong? Why were you crying?"

Hearing her friend's voice, Lin Wei shook her head. "It's nothing. Oh right, would you like to hang out with me tomorrow? You weren't here a few days ago, so I didn't dare go out alone."

"Sure! Didn't I come here specifically to keep you company? We can go wherever you want, I guarantee I'll show you a good time!" The girl put a casual, affectionate arm around Lin Wei.

"Thank you."