Key Takeaways

• MetriCal reduced Biped's calibration time per camera from 20+ minutes to less than 2 minutes, with failure rates dropping from 20% to essentially 0%

• The solution saved approximately 6 months of engineering time and $100,000 in development costs that had been spent on an inadequate internal calibration system

• Improved calibration quality led to a 50% reduction in user returns and enabled world-first ground segmentation features for blind users

The Mission

The assistive technology industry faces unique challenges when developing navigation systems for blind and visually impaired individuals. These systems require exceptional reliability and accuracy, as users depend on them for safety-critical mobility decisions in real-world environments. For companies developing wearable sensor systems, achieving optimal performance requires precise multi-camera calibration; this technical challenge can quickly become a development bottleneck.

Biped is building smart navigation hardware for blind and visually impaired people, with devices now deployed across 20 countries since the company's founding in 2021. The three-person team has ambitious technical goals: creating the world's best obstacle detection system with a 170° field of view - matching the visual range of a sighted person.

To achieve this expansive field of view, Biped designed a system with three depth cameras mounted on a custom heatsink, worn on the user's shoulders. However, as their CEO Maël Fabien explains, "Calibrating the cameras was a massive challenge for our company from the start."

"We asked for an access, tried the software, it worked, and we bought a license. It felt like a no-brainer."

- Maël Fabien, CEO, Biped AI

Time and Money

For Biped, calibration wasn't just a technical requirement: it was mission-critical infrastructure that directly impacted user safety and satisfaction. The team needed calibration capabilities weren't just accurate, but fast enough to avoid becoming a production bottleneck as the company scaled. As a consumer-facing product, they also required the ability to recalibrate devices in the field after repairs or damage.

Initially, Biped attempted a home-grown solution. "We tried to solve it internally for 6+ months," Maël recalls. "We thought that owning that part of the pipeline was important." However, this approach proved costly in both time and resources. "We reached an internal solution that was simply not good enough, and spent close to $100,000 worth of engineering time to solve this problem."

The team's internal calibration process took over 20 minutes per camera, with a failure rate around 20%. For a production system where users depend on accurate obstacle detection, these failure rates were unacceptable.

Recognizing they needed external expertise, Biped began searching for software solutions. After discovering Tangram Vision through a Google search, the decision to adopt MetriCal came quickly. "We asked for an access, tried the software, it worked, and we bought a license. It felt like a no-brainer."

Things That Just Work

Biped's integration of MetriCal focused on two critical use cases: production calibration for new devices and maintenance calibration for units requiring repairs. The company's hardware manufacturer became the primary MetriCal user, calibrating the three cameras in each new device and recalibrating units as needed.

The team's response to MetriCal was enthusiastic. "We were super excited; things that just work are usually very well adopted," notes Maël. The dramatic improvement in calibration performance made adoption straightforward: calibration time per camera dropped from over 20 minutes to less than 2 minutes, while failure rates fell to essentially zero.

This reliability transformation had cascading effects throughout Biped's engineering efforts. "Working with Tangram just allowed us to focus on the rest of our software pipeline," the CEO explains. Rather than continuing to invest engineering resources in solving calibration challenges, the team could redirect their limited bandwidth toward core product features and user experience improvements.

"We've built the world's best obstacle detection system for blind people, with the largest field of view on the market. Calibration was just a bottleneck to make it happen, and MetriCal solved it."

- Maël Fabien, CEO, Biped AI

Beyond the technical capabilities of MetriCal, Biped found value in Tangram Vision's approach to customer support. "The Tangram team responds super fast; they genuinely want projects to work," the CEO notes as the most positive aspect of the partnership.

This responsiveness proved particularly valuable for a small team working on cutting-edge assistive technology. With only a core team of engineers, Biped needed solutions that worked reliably without requiring significant internal expertise or support overhead.

Trust Your Perception

The impact of MetriCal on Biped's product capabilities extended beyond production efficiency. The improved calibration quality directly enhanced the performance of their obstacle detection algorithms, particularly reducing false positive rates - a critical metric for user trust and safety.

Most significantly, the calibration accuracy enabled Biped to develop entirely new capabilities. "We engineered pretty stable ground segmentation algorithms thanks to the calibration quality," Maël explains. "We launched the world's first holes and drop-off detection system for blind users based on these results." This ground segmentation capability represents a major advancement in assistive navigation technology, allowing users to detect hazards like curbs, stairs, and ground-level obstacles with unprecedented reliability.

The calibration improvements also had measurable impacts on user satisfaction. Biped observed approximately a 50% reduction in user returns after implementing MetriCal, a strong indicator that the improved calibration quality translated directly to better real-world performance and user confidence. As Maël explains, "We've built the world's best obstacle detection system for blind people, with the largest field of view on the market. Calibration was just a bottleneck to make it happen, and MetriCal solved it."

Building Better

Beyond the immediate technical wins, MetriCal's impact on Biped's development timeline proved equally valuable. The solution saved approximately six additional months of engineering struggle, allowing the small team to reach their technical goals faster and focus resources on differentiating features rather than infrastructure challenges.

As Biped continues expanding their international presence and refining their assistive navigation technology, reliable calibration remains a foundation for their ambitious technical goals. With MetriCal handling this critical infrastructure, the team can maintain focus on their mission: building navigation technology that meaningfully improves mobility and independence for blind and visually impaired users worldwide.