For people who are blind or visually-impaired, getting around can be a laborious task, especially in crowded, urban areas. A new device, the Animotus, is a wirelessly-connected 3D-printed cube that acts like a futuristic compass driven by the sense of touch. Designed by Yale engineer Adam Spiers, a postdoctoral associate in the robotics lab, the shape-shifting device literally morphs itself to point the user in the right direction.
The Animotus works by responding to wireless instructions that command it to morph its shape. The device has two ways of communicating; the top of the cube twists right and left indicating which direction to turn, and then it slides forward to show how far the traveler should move in that direction. The top slides back into its original place when it’s ready to give the next direction.
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Spiers decided against constructing the haptic device to operate with navigational vibrations and sounds because they could easily get mixed up with the noise of the outside world. Basically, the whole idea behind the device is that it relies only on the sense of touch.
Interestingly, Spiers partnered with a British theater company, Extant, to test out his product. Together, they adapted an interactive version of Flatland, which is a satirical novel written by Edwin A. Abbott’s 1884 story of a two-dimensional world. In this rendition of Flatland, the audience — both sighted and visually-impaired participants — became the actors. They all followed the instructions of the Animotus device to reach certain destinations while wandering through the completely dark performance space, listening to narrative and sound effects that told the story.
In this unconventional study, the members in the Flatland production also wore suits embedded with movement-tracking devices. This supplied data to the Animotus device through a wireless connection accessing a computer based-map. The results of the research performance even impressed Spiers — the audience members traveled from point to point on their designated routes only a few inches less per second than their average paces in a fully-lit atmosphere.
"That implies that they were pretty confident as they were moving around," Spiers said in Yale’s press release. "They only slowed down a little bit, despite being guided through an unknown dark space by a wholly unfamiliar technology."
The participants even became so comfortable with the Animotus device that they didn’t want to give them up by the end of the play. “It was quite endearing for me to see them become so attached to to the device,” said Spiers.
The device is still being developed, however. Spier said the ideal next step is to enable the Animotus to connect to smartphones and GPS devices in order to be used as an alternative to staring a screen to find a new location. He envisions the device will not only revolutionize the accessibility of city streets and different terrains for the visually impaired, but also serve as an easy tool for sighted people to find their way around.
While the device is still far from mass production, it’s certainly a phenomenal creation. Haptic devices usually rely on vibration, but thanks to Spiers’ innovative engineering, this shape-shifting gadget could be the solution that no one had thought of before. Imagine a future where, instead of looking around and seeing hundreds of people staring at their phone screens, everyone was looking straight ahead and confidently walking with little 3D cubes. The Animotus could become a revolutionary futuristic compass for all people, but its genius design would especially change the lives of the visually impaired.
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