indian institute of technology iit kanpur has announced that it will launch haptic smartwatch for the blind and visually impaired and partnered with ambrane india private limited for mass manufacturing and sales of the wearablethe institution said the haptic watch developed at iit kanpur addresses the drawbacks of all the conventional technologies and offers a seamless experience to the wearerread alsosmartwatch users use these 6 tips to keep your smartwatch safesmartwatches have become one of the most popular accessories they have beaten both analog and digital watches in sales these watches are not just time keepers but also offer some useful health as well as connectivity features however for their optimum utilisation it is important here are 5 tipsoneplus nord smartwatch review a smart choiceoneplus nord smartwatch comes with a price tag of rs 4999 and it offers all the essential features that one would want in a smartwatch the device offers a big and bright display and a lasting battery life the smartwatch delivers pretty good performance and accurate activity tracking thewatches that are currently available for the blind and the visually impaired can be broadly classified into tactile talking vibration and braillebased these watches have their limitations if there is a risk of needle breakage in tactile watches talking watches do not offer a private mode of communication similarly vibration watches are complicated and braille watches are expensive the institution said in a statementsmartwatch comes in two variantsthe smartwatch comes in two variants and has 12 touchsensitive hour markers arranged over the dial face and the users will be required to scan the markers with their fingerswe believe that this watch will make a great social impact by enabling the visually impaired and blind to make seamless use of this technology for everyday usage the watch will soon be commercialised by ambrane india and will be available in the market at an affordable price this development is a testament to iit kanpurs commitment to promote inclusivity through novel technology development said prof abhay karandikar director iit kanpurhaptic smartwatch featuresiit kanpur team said that 12 touch sensitive hour markers arranged over the dial face will help blind and visually impaired customers to take a note of time by scanning the markers with hisher fingers for example if a person wants to check the time of 340 the 3rd and 8th marker in the watch will be termed as the active markers the vibration pulse will be generated on touching the active markers a long pulse on 3 will indicate hours and a short pulse on 8 will indicate minutes for checking the time of 340 the team explainedthis watch is said to be a fusion of tactile and vibration watches the vibration that the watch generates has been reduced to 2 pulses from more than 20 pulses and the fragile nature of a tactile watch is eliminated other features of the smartwatch include heart rate step count hydration reminder and setting smart timer by using simple gesturesthe existing