Patent ID: 8523376

Claim:
A cane for stabilizing a user while traversing an underlying surface, the cane comprising: a grip; a support shaft extending from said grip and terminating in a tip section; a cane tip attached to said tip section, said cane tip formed of an elastic material and terminating in a support surface for grippably engaging the underlying surface; tip electrodes embedded in said cane tip and positioned in the vicinity of said support surface so as to provide exposure to an object that contacts said support surface, wherein said tip electrodes are a pair of nested, axially aligned electrodes; means for energizing said tip electrodes; a switch for activating said means for energizing said electrodes on demand; and at least one pair of side electrodes positioned in a spaced apart relationship and residing on said support shaft so as to be spaced apart from said cane tip, said side electrodes also being energized by said means for energizing said tip electrodes.