Victor Mateevitsi, a student of the University of Illinois (Chicago), has created a remarkably intricate suit that provides the wearer with the same spider-like senses of popular comic book hero, Peter Parker, aka Spiderman.
(Via: aceshowbiz.com)
The suit Mateevitsi created is called “SpiderSense” and while it does not necessarily allow the user to shoot webs from their hands, it does allow the individual to detect how close he or she is to an object or another person and even help navigate without sight.
The suit features small robotic arms packaged together in modules with microphones. The way it works is pretty straightforward — the microphones send out and pick up ultrasonic reflections from nearby objects. When the ultrasound detects someone or something moving closer to the suit, the robotic arms respond by exerting pressure on the wearer’s body. There are seven of these modules distributed across the suit, thus giving the wearer near 360-degree ultrasound coverage.
Mateevitsi tested the suit out with a group of fellow students, having them stand outside and blindfolded, and waiting to feel for the sensation of an approaching attacker. To complete the scene, each wearer had ninja cardboard throwing stars to use whenever they sensed someone coming. “Ninety five per cent of the time they were able to sense someone approaching and throw the star at them,” Mateevitsi told New Scientist.
SpiderSuit lets the wearer sense if a person or object is moving closer.
Of course, this isn’t all about protecting one’s self from villains. Mateevitsi foresees the concept of this suit being able to help blind people find their way home. He also wants to use the suit, or at least a few of the sensors from the suit, to increase cyclists’ awareness of traffic on the road.
“Recent scientific advances allow the use of technology to expand the number of forms of energy that can be perceived by humans,” Mateevitsi writes on his site, describing the paper he put together on this new technology. “Smart sensors can detect hazards that human sensors are unable to perceive, for example radiation. This fusing of technology to human’s forms of perception enables exciting new ways of perceiving the world around us. In this paper we describe the design of SpiderSense, a wearable device that projects the wearer’s near environment on the skin and allows for directional awareness of objects around him. The millions of sensory receptors that cover the skin presents opportunities for conveying alerts and messages. We discuss the challenges and considerations of designing similar wearable devices”
Mateevitsi will be presenting his paper on SpiderSuit at the Augmented Human Conference in Stuttgart, Germany next month. With the help of his team, he plans on adding more sensors to the suit to increase its resolution. They also plan on beginning trials with visual impaired people soon.
Learn more about Mateeviti and his work.
Story via newscientist.com
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