‘Shape’ helps people with visual impairment navigate through haptic perception
A groundbreaking navigation device can help people with visual impairment perform a location task as well as sighted people, new research shows
Researchers from Imperial College London, working with the company MakeSense Technology and the charity Bravo Victor, have developed a shape-changing device called Shape that helps people with visual impairment navigate through haptic perception – the way people understand information about objects through touch. The device, which looks like a torch, bends to indicate where a person needs to move and straightens when the user is facing the correct direction.
In a study published in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers tested how well people with visual impairment were able to locate targets in a 3D virtual reality (VR) space using Shape and vibration feedback technology – which is commonly used to help visually impaired people navigate. Sighted individuals were also recruited for the study to locate the targets in the VR space using only their natural vision.
Dr Ad Spiers, lead researcher for the study, from Imperial’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said: “The exciting thing about this study is we’ve managed to demonstrate that Shape can help people with visual impairment perform a navigation task as well as sighted people. This is something that we haven’t seen before with other navigation devices.
“Shape is unusual because it uses our ability to understand information through touch in a way that goes beyond vibration. Humans have an innate ability to feel and interpret shapes through our hands, with very little concentration. Exploiting this allows us to create a device that is simple to learn and isn’t tiring to use.”
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