An instrumentation solution for reducing spatial disorientation mishaps

Vibrotactile letter reading using a low-resolution tactor array

“…Rupert [12] developed a system using a vest with tactors sewn into it to allow pilots to better judge the down-vector when performing aerial maneuvers that alter the pilot's vestibular system, which can cause fatal errors in judgment. He found that feedback to the torso could be effective in improving a pilot's spatial awareness.…”

“…Existing suit-type vibrotactile displays such as those by Yano et al [9] and Gunther et al [11] aim at the whole body, but the density of stimulating points in these systems was sparse (or discrete). On the other hand, the approaches by Tan et al [6][7][8], Rupert [12], and Yang et al [14] could be regarded as attempts to provide "analog" sensation at the locations of stimulation points, although the target regions only cover a limited area on the body surface. If we want to cover the whole body with tactors at considerable density, the total number of tactors would be huge, which might result in encumbering, easy-to-fail systems.…”

Virtual contact: The continuum from purely visual to purely physical

“…Rupert with the U.S. Navy and van Erp and his group at TNO in the Netherlands have performed extensive work into the use of vibrotactile cues for conveying the downvector to pilots (Rupert, 2000;van Erp, 2000). Kume et al (1998) introduced vibrotactile stimulation on the sole of the foot, and developed a slipper-like interface.…”

Towards Effective Information Display Using Vibrotactile Apparent Motion

“…For a single tactor, these include frequency, amplitude, temporal delay, and pulse patterns. For groups of tactors, both regularly-spaced [10,14] and non-regularly-spaced layouts [9,19], tactile movement patterns, body location, and interpolation method can be identified. MacLean & Enriquez [11] introduced the notion of haptic icons (hapticons) and performed empirical analysis of the design space of these vibration characteristics.…”