'Smart cane' brings tech advances to visually impaired

Blind Turkish entrepreneur Kursat Ceylan, 35, cofounder of Wewalk technology, uses his smart cane, as he arrives at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

BARCELONA (Reuters) - White sticks used by the visually impaired to help them get about have had a hi-tech makeover, with a "smart cane" that doesn't just detect obstacles but can also give users information about the shops and restaurants they are passing.

The device is the brain-child of Kursat Ceylan, a Turkish inventor who was born blind and had an accident three years ago that left him scarred as he struggled to navigate while pulling luggage and checking GPS directions through his smartphone.