
(CNN) — Negotiating an airport with its labyrinthine corridors, endless escalators and myriad gates is never easy. Now imagine doing it if you were blind.
Searching for a better alternative led Asakawa to invent a high-tech suitcase that helps get her to her destination safely and efficiently.
Packed with cameras and sensors – many of the same technologies found in an autonomous car – the suitcase uses artificial intelligence (AI) to map the environment around it, calculating distances between the user and objects both stationary and mobile. A mobile phone app is used to program a destination into the suitcase, which plans a route and directs the user through vibrations in its handle.