Perceptual Alternatives

Follow the links to:

• Electronic Travel Aids for the Blind and Vision Impaired, featuring the Sonic Pathfinder.

• Son Simon Heyes: Industrial Design, Product Design etc.

• The Brain Teaser page.

• The Genealogy page - the Lancashire Heyeses and much more.

• The Maps Page: surname distribution maps for the UK.

• A famous relative - well, possibly: Thomas Heyes/Highs from Leigh in Lancashire, inventor of spinning machines, eg. the Spinning Jenny. (see Wiki)

• My father's page. In 1918 he flew with 55 Squadron along with W.E.Johns - the author of the Biggles books (see Wiki). Follow the link to Johns' vivid account of flying on bombing raids in open cockpit bi-planes during the First World War. Both men were shot down and taken prisoner!

• An early invention: a Tactile Display for installation at Pedestrian Crossings where the use of the usual audible signals could cause confusion to vision impaired people. The Tactile Display is currently made under License by several UK firms ( Radix Systems , Rustington Engineering , Microsense Systems Ltd. ) and is widely use throughout the United Kingdom at traffic light controlled intersections and pedestrian crossings on dual carriageways.

• A recent invention: not all my projects are for the Vision Impaired. For example, I worked with a young fisherman/inventor, Steve Steer, to develop Tackle Tracka the world's first fishing rod computer.

• The big one that got away. A ' spin-off ' from my aid for the blind, I Invented and patented ReverseAid in 1982. It is an ultrasonic device which, when fitted to the back of cars or trucks, gives a warning to the driver when reversing should there be an obstacle behind the vehicle. It was excellent for maneuvering into tight spaces. It was fitted to every car I owned for the next 18 years. That is, until I was forced to stop driving because of failing eyesight. Quite a number were sold - mainly to the oil companies - but I never really 'got it off the ground'. It was widely suggested that my enthusiasm for the device was because I was a one-eyed driver and could not judge distances. However, various embodiments of the ReverseAid technology are now available (know generically as Parking Sensors). I understand it has become popular even with two-eyed drivers!
  This BMW advertisement is rather good. (switch your speakers on).

• I was privileged to find myself on a team at the Australian National University working on Insect vision applied to robotics. A project with a very exciting future.

• Seeing over the horizon! It is possible, sometimes. Visit my mirage page.

• These days I write the odd web page for other people and organizations.

• Testament to a mis-spent youth.
  In 1962 I was part of the four man team who climbed Blackpool Tower - up the outside!
  Blackpool Tower was then the tallest building in the United Kingdom. The local newspaper got quite excited and reported, "University men in death defying stunt which tops the lot". In fact it was all done with great precision and using the correct climbing gear. The was one slight problem; it was mid winter and there was "11 degrees of frost" that night. Degrees, that is, on the old - Farenheight - scale. Approximately -5.2 ° C.

  I am indebted to John Ganas, Team Leader, Document Examination at the Forensic Services Department of the Victorian Police Force in Melbourne for capturing my disintegrating newspaper cutting as a digital image.

• The Dangerous Delusions and Secular Ethics links page. Links to YouTube videos: Harris, Dawkins and more.

• Please feel free to contact me .

• See Webcam shots of Melbourne    City    the Heads    Port Melbourne

• The next Transit of Venus on 6th June 2012. Will be the last chance anyone living today will have to see this phenomena. In the words of the late Douglas Adams, "There's nothing penultimate about this one."   

• And why not help me look for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence:

  

  I would hate it/them to be found just after I cark it.

   

• And then, again, it would be rather good to find Einstein's predicted Gravity Waves:

  Why not join Einstein@home          

  and use spare time on your computer to analyse signals from rotating asymmetrical neutron stars and/or binary neutron stars.

   

• Always on the lookout for clever use of the web..... Just look what I have found ........
            Isn't that clever?          Please sign my Guest Map.

   

• Old Tone's Radio links

   

• Currently the absolute web address for these pages is http://members.optuszoo.com.au/aheyes40/

 

 

 

This site in The Blind and Visually Impaired Ring is owned by Tony Heyes.
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These web pages have been written by Tony Heyes
of Perceptual Alternatives  using     Arachnophilia.
and   IrfanView.
They have been tested using the ubiquitous Internet Explorer
and also with my browser of choice      Mozilla FireFox.