SpiderSense Suit Enables Blindfolded Wearer to Sense People Sneaking Up on Them

Posted on February 22, 2013

Viktor Mateevitsi, a grad student at the Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has designed a special suit, called SpiderSense, that enables the wearer to locate obstacles and objects by "feeling" the environment around them. Mateevitsi is wearing the suit in the above photo.

The vest contains 13 sensors. These sensors scan the environment for obstacles using ultrasound. The wearer of SpiderSense receives information about the distance of the obstacles. This information comes in to the wearer as variable pressure feedback applied on the skin by tiny robotic arms. The arms apply increasing pressure as an object (or person) gets closer.

A description of the suit on the UIC Graduate College website says, "Wearing SpiderSense the wearer can feel threats from blind spots, and in low-light conditions. The impact of this technology is huge: Imagine walking down the street and feeling a potential attacker that is sneaking behind you, or biking down the road and sensing the incoming cars. "

New Scientist reports that Mateevitsi let blindfolded students test the suit on campus. The students were given cardboard ninja throwing stars and told to throw them whenever they sensed someone sneaking up on them. The students were almost always able to sense someone approaching (95% of the time) while wearing the SpideySense vest.

Mateevitsi told New Scientist, "Ninety five per cent of the time they were able to sense someone approaching and throw the star at them."

Sadly, no video is available of blindfolded students throwing cardboard ninja throwing stars at people sneaking up on them. However, there are a couple photos of SpiderSense in action here.

Mateevitsi recently presented his research paper, "Sensing the Environment through SpiderSense," at the 4th Augmented Human International Conference in Stuttgart, Germany.

TECH