Augmenting human spatial navigation via sensory substitution

Getting Out Safe: Navigation Utilizing The ARAIG Suit and Minecraft

“…. 2.7 An example of the virtual environment that users were tasked with navigating in the Dunbar et al paper [39]. .…”

“…The final paper that I will cover in this section is another paper from my literature review in [11]. In Augmenting Human Spatial Navigation Via Sensory Substitution, Dunbar et al apply a more abstract approach to the problem of navigating and providing haptic feedback in an unknown setting [39]; these researchers explore the possibility of augmenting humans' other senses in an attempt to eliminate the necessity to rely on sight when navigating an environment [39]. Their VIEW device, also known as the "Visionless Interfacing Exploration Wearable", employs the use of haptic motors which vibrate at different locations on the subject with varying intensities, allowing them to visualize their environment without the use of their eyesight [39].…”

“…The renderer, as seen in Figure 2.8, was programmed in Unity, a game engine popular with many researchers [39]. The physical feedback presented to the user is updated every time the physics in the game updates, which in this case was at a rate of 50Hz.…”

“…Haptic navigation and object avoidance has, historically, been oriented more toward assisting disabled individuals to safely maneuver through their surroundings [37,38]. There are, however, increasing instances of applying haptics in order to navigate virtual environments, particularly now in the age of virtual reality [39]. This section delves into recent research conducted in the field of haptic assisted movement and navigation, independent of the nature of the subjects' immediate surroundings.…”

“…The final recent research covered in this section applies a more abstract approach to the problem of navigating and providing haptic feedback in an unknown setting; Dunbar et al explore the possibility of augmenting humans' other senses in an attempt to eliminate the necessity to rely on sight when navigating an environment [39]. Their VIEW device, also known as the "Visionless Interfacing Exploration Wearable", employs the use of haptic motors which vibrate at different locations on the subject with varying intensities, allowing them to visualize their environment without the use of their eyesight [39]. While their testing areas were in VR, test subjects were still able to detect nearby obstacles within the virtual setting and avoid them [39], thus allowing for sightless navigation.…”