A new trend in technology is called "wearables", i.e.
embedding technology into our clothes. These can be sensors, such as
temperature, cameras, etc. and it can be other things, such as monitors,
screens, buttons, etc.
I propose embedding the sonar sense into clothes. This can be done by
incorporating ultrasonic range sensors, which are pretty simple, cheap and
light, into the clothes in many directions. While they will not compete with
Google's autonomous car apparatus, they can give a general sense of range to
nearby objects. Then also embed light vibration actuators in the cloth, such
that it vibrates more when things are nearer.
An optimal apparatus would be a single small-scale unit that on one side
senses range, and on the other has a small vibrator. The latter can be a
shape-memory-alloy or a small piezo that vibrate when current pas through them.
The latter can be miniature ultrasonic sensors. Then embedding many of these units seamlessly into the clothes in front and on the back.
While it may seem to be very uncomfortable to have vibrations on our
skin all the time, the human body and mind is highly adaptive and it can
quickly habituate to the uneasiness, while adapting a new sense like bats. It
has been shown in many sensory substitution devices, that people can learn to
switch or acquire new perceptions like this. The novel thing about this project
is to make wearable and thereby easy to don on and off and have a large range
of sensors/actuators.
