The University of Tokyo’s Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory focusses their research on sensory information and relevant technologies. The lab’s “Haptic Radar / Extended Skin Project” uses body mounted range sensors and small vibrating motors to alert the wearer of any approaching objects –
We are developing a wearable and modular device allowing users to perceive and respond to spatial information using haptic cues in an intuitive and unobstrusive way.The system is composed of an array of “optical-hair modules”, each of which senses range information and transduces it as an appropriate vibro-tactile cue on the skin directly beneath it. An analogy for our artificial sensory system in the animal world would be the cellular cilia, insect antennae, as well as the specialized sensory hairs of mammalian whiskers.
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