Wearable Forearm Tactile Navigation Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current navigation methods for extreme and military scenarios, such as memorizing routes on maps or relying on visual and auditory cues, are impractical and unsafe due to environmental distractions, requiring users to stop and focus, leading to potential dangers and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A wearable forearm-band device providing intuitive tactile instructions through a combination of vibrations and visual stimuli, allowing users to navigate without verbal or visual guidance, with a layout that separates sensations for clear direction recognition and a design suitable for harsh environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If visual directions are used (holding and reading a physical map or using a computerized navigation application), then navigation information can be provided to the user, but the user must continuously stop and focus on the map, costing time and creating danger in hostile scenarios
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces visual and auditory navigation systems with a tactile haptic feedback system. Instead of requiring the user to visually read maps or listen to audio directions, the system uses vibration motors to provide directional cues through touch, allowing users to navigate while maintaining awareness of their environment without stopping to check a map.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a wearable device with vibration motors as an intermediary between the navigation system and the user. This intermediary translates digital navigation data into tactile feedback signals that can be perceived through touch, enabling continuous navigation guidance without requiring the user to divert attention to visual or auditory channels.
2Loss of information
If vibration directions are provided through a wristband with multiple haptic feedback devices, then directional information can be conveyed, but the vibrations are limited to a narrow area on the wrist making it difficult to differentiate directions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the haptic feedback system into multiple independently controllable vibration motors positioned at different locations on the wearable device. Each motor can be activated separately to indicate specific directional information, allowing users to differentiate between different directions through the spatial distribution and timing of vibrations rather than relying on subtle intensity variations in a single location.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables distraction-free, safe, and efficient navigation by providing unmistakable tactile commands, allowing users to maintain focus on their surroundings and tasks, even in hostile or complex environments, with a user-friendly interface that requires minimal training.
Implementation Method 1
a housing, and a vibration motor housed within the housing and adapted to vibrate the housing
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides methods, systems and a device for provision of a tactile language comprising a set of distinguishable tactile instructions to a user, the method including providing the language comprising the plurality of combinations of tactile stimuli, wherein the device is configured to provide unmistakable, distinguished commands, without the need for verbal or visual instructions and wirelessly communicating instructions to the device to activate at least four tactile stimulus components of the device thereby providing the set of distinguishable tactile instructions to the user, wherein the instructions are selected from real instructions and virtual reality instructions and combinations thereof.