If you’ve ever shaken your cane at the TV only to find that nothing has changed, you know why we invented the Smart Cane Remote. It combines the best of both products—canes and smart remotes—into one product that is stylish, functional, and totally new.

Colonel Sanders was famous for using his cane to look cool, possibly support a weak leg, and shame fry cooks who made fried chicken that didn’t measure up to his high standards. Now you can shake this cane at your TV when a show doesn’t measure up to your high standards—and it will change the channel. Shake one way, and the channel goes up. Shake it another way, and the channel goes down.

And, unlike other universal remotes, this one can improve your balance as you walk or help compensate for an injured leg.

• We’re still figuring out some details, but the remote control will be able to learn the standard IR commands from your existing TV remote control.
• The cane would issue commands in response to how it is oriented by using a gyroscope/accelerometer. For example, tilting the cane right and left might change the channel. Moving it up and down might change the volume. Tapping the cane on the floor might power the TV off/on.
• Using a battery-powered micro-controller to read values from a gyroscope, we will respond to the cane’s motion by sending TV control commands via the IR LED.
• To conserve battery power, an on/off button will be located in the handle to limit operation when not using. We’re still figuring out some of these features based on what is feasible in the prototyping/fabrication phase.