Glide Demo Day

Before I begin, if you want to know more about Glide, check out their website at glidance.io/

John was booked in to the 9am slot at the North West Regional Guide Dogs Centre in Atherton, to go and find out more about Glide and to have a go of one of the prototype models. His 9am slot meant that we had to leave the house at 7.30am, and brave the cold and ice to drive there!

We got to meet the Glidance team, including the CEO Amos Miller. Amos used to work for Microsoft, so the company is based in Seattle in the USA, and he is also visually impaired. Amos was very happy to answer all questions about Glide and it was very clear that, as a company, they are very willing to take feedback and use it to help improve Glide further.

Everyone was given the opportunity to try out the current Glide prototype in a large hall that's normally used for training dogs to become guide dogs, so it came complete with all kinds of different obstacles to navigate around. There were people at today's Demo Day that had been on a previous Demo Day last year. They all said that they thought the prototype used last year was brilliant, but the one this year was a big improvement on the one from last year. It just kind of emphasised that the company do listen to feedback and use it to improve Glide further.

I guide John pretty much every day and help him to get around, so I'm fully aware of some of the difficulties he has. For example, he struggles to walk in a straight line and tends to veer, and walk into things, even when using his cane. I did wonder to myself whether Glide would be able to manage with this and keep him safe. I have to admit that I was impressed with how it kept him going straight and manoeuvred him around obstacles.

John himself is aware that he has no sense of direction, but with Glide he was able to walk confidently in a straight line. He says that he felt 100% confident with the Glide. For me, I think of Glide as being almost like a robotic guide dog - obviously not in looks, but in the way it guides the user.

After the demo we saw Beth, who used to work at a sight loss charity that's local to us, so it was good to catch up and see how her new job at Guide Dogs is going. She was going to participate in the next session after the 9am one that John did, so she could find out more about Glide too.

Glidance are very upfront about Glide being a prototype and still being in development, but what they have so far is, in our opinion, brilliant and we're looking forward to seeing what further developments are added in before Glide goes into full production. John is very keen to get one for himself, as he can really see the potential of Glide and how it can help him to be more independent.