{"id":156,"date":"2025-08-01T11:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T02:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/?p=156"},"modified":"2025-08-01T12:41:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T03:41:50","slug":"honda-develops-device-to-assist-the-visually-impaired-with-walking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/?p=156","title":{"rendered":"Honda Develops Device to Assist the Visually Impaired with Walking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Honda-Backed Startup Developing \u201cAshirase,\u201d a Smart Navigation System for the Visually Impaired, Raises \u00a5715 Million in Series A Round<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ashirase Inc., a startup born out of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.\u2019s new business creation program <em>IGNITION<\/em>, is developing a shoe-integrated navigation system designed to assist the visually impaired with safe and intuitive walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The service, called <strong>\u201cAshirase,\u201d<\/strong> enables users to set a walking route via a mobile app. A device installed inside the shoe vibrates to guide the user\u2014vibrators located at the front of the foot activate for forward movement, while the ones on the right or left vibrate to signal upcoming turns. This intuitive feedback helps users understand their direction without constantly monitoring the route, thereby enhancing safety and reducing mental strain while walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July 2025, Ashirase Inc. completed the first close of its Series A funding round, raising a total of <strong>\u00a5715 million<\/strong>($493 M) through a third-party allocation of shares to <strong>SBI Investment<\/strong>, <strong>Miraidoor<\/strong>, and <strong>Honda Motor Co., Ltd.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The newly raised funds will be used to strengthen operations for international expansion, secure relevant certifications, and further enhance the product to deliver an improved user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Souce]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.corporate.ashirase.com\">https:\/\/www.corporate.ashirase.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Honda-Backed Startup Developing \u201cAshirase,\u201d a Smart Navigation System for the Visually Impaired, Raises \u00a5715 Million in Series A Round Ashirase Inc., a startup born out of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.\u2019s new business creation program IGNITION, is developing a shoe-integrated navigation system designed to assist the visually impaired with safe and intuitive walking. The service, called &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/?p=156\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Honda Develops Device to Assist the Visually Impaired with Walking&#8221;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-deeptech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions\/158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}