GPS Navigation Helmet Tugs Your Ear in the Direction It Wants You to Go

Remember when mom tugged you toward home by the earlobe when you were bad? That's the concept behind this GPS navigation helmet

By Mike Spinelli Posted 10.27.2009 at 10:28 am 3 Comments

GPS Navigation Helmet Tugs Your Ear in the Direction It Wants You to Go Human-machine interface researchers at Japan's Kajimoto Laboratories worked up this GPS navigation system that tugs the wearer's ear for directional guidance instead of leading by voice commands. "Being pulled the ear for navigation is a common situation when we were children," they write, "and hence, the sensation should be quite intuitive." Kajimoto Laboratory

And you thought that lady from your car's navigation system was stern. Human-machine interface Researchers from Kajimoto Laboratory came up with this GPS navigation helmet that doesn't give directions in words, it "shows" the wearer which way to go by tugging on the appropriate ear, just like mom used to do. "Being pulled on the ear for navigation is a common situation when we were children," researchers write, "and hence, the sensation should be quite intuitive."

A pair of clips, one positioned on each ear, provide the tugging sensation. A previous version tugged on the arm, a sensation researchers felt was less intuitive than the whole ear thing.

Of course, it probably wouldn't be all that great for driving applications, unless it could somehow convey that, say, a right turn is coming up in 800 feet (eight quick taps to the head?). But it might be OK for say, helping a sight- or hearing-impaired person navigate walking directions through a city.

[Kajimoto Laboratory via Treehugger]

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3 Comments

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AreYouKidding

10/27/09 at 11:23 am

Let me count the ways this is a terrible application of a great idea.
1 - It looks ridiculous.
2 - I can't think of anything more annoying that having something clipped to your ear.
3 - It looks like old style dental headgear.
4 - It looks like traction medial equipment.
5 - Did I mention that it looks ridiculous?

Same technology, only with two blue tooth vibrators (think cell phone) one in each pocket, that vibrate to tell you to turn left or right. That way you don't look like a science experiment. Or if they are stuck on the head thing, package it in a baseball hat and have it vibrate or poke the sides of your head for left and right.

I've got a great idea, spankings are even more intuitive, why not have a motorized backpack with a big hand that spanks you when you go the wrong way.....I mean spankings are "a common situation when we were children," they write, "and hence, the sensation should be quite intuitive."

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fb36

10/27/09 at 12:22 pm

Best application of this would be remote-controlled chimps, dogs, cats, rats, birds etc. (of course they should be trained first.) After that they can be used for many things.

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scigeek96

10/28/09 at 4:52 pm

how about we just skip the tugging thing and get two tazers one on each shoulder and if you have to go left send 10000 volts right through your left shoulder. im sure that would be "quite intuitive"