Haptic Bracelet Navigation Using Pulsed 3D Tactile Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing orientation assistance systems for visually impaired individuals provide insufficiently rich and intuitive tactile information about complex environments, often requiring significant attention and lacking comprehensive understanding of the visual environment.
Innovation Solution
An orientation assistance system utilizing a bracelet with a single haptic region and a stereoscopic camera or 3D scanner to generate a digital depth map, processing the visual environment to provide periodic pulsed activation patterns on haptic spikes for intuitive navigation, with optional learning algorithms for automated mode selection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If multiple haptic transducers are used on different parts of the body, then information coverage is improved, but intuitiveness and simplicity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple haptic transducers into a single haptic region on the bracelet, consolidating information delivery to one location on the user's body. This allows comprehensive environmental information to be conveyed through a unified tactile interface, improving intuitiveness while maintaining complete information coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from spatial distribution of transducers across different body parts to temporal coding within a single haptic region. By using pulsed activation patterns over time, the system conveys comprehensive spatial and environmental information through time-varying tactile stimuli at one location, achieving both completeness and intuitiveness.
2Loss of information
If multiple haptic transducers are used, then information completeness is improved, but cognitive load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs periodic pulsed activation patterns of haptic spikes within the single haptic region. These rhythmic, structured pulses encode comprehensive environmental information in a temporally organized manner, allowing the user's cognitive system to process complete information through predictable, periodic tactile cues rather than simultaneous complex signals.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides continuous haptic feedback through the single haptic region, maintaining an ongoing stream of encoded environmental information. This continuous tactile dialogue allows users to progressively build understanding of their surroundings without cognitive interruption, reducing mental load while preserving information completeness.
3Measurement precision
If detailed environmental information is provided continuously, then navigation accuracy is improved, but user attention requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses periodic pulsed patterns to deliver detailed navigational information, encoding precision data in rhythmic sequences that the user can process subconsciously. This temporal coding maintains high navigation accuracy while reducing the need for sustained conscious attention, as the periodic nature of the cues allows for more natural, less demanding information processing.
Data Source
AI summary
An orientation assistance system comprises acquisition means for acquiring a real or virtual visual environment, non-visual human/machine interface means, and processing means for processing the digital representation of the visual environment to provide an electrical control signal for controlling a non-visual interface. The human/machine interface means comprise a bracelet having a haptic region with a surface area of between 60×60 millimeters and 150×150 millimeters, with a set of N×M active spikes, where N is between 5 and 100 and M is between 10 and 100. The processing means for processing the digital representation is configured to periodically extract at least one pulsed digital activation pattern of a subset of the spikes of the haptic region.