Perception of the urban space of blind people using DET
EUROPEAN PATENT 2012
Tactile Spatial Decoder
Originally a school project (Madrid, 2008), then developed as an European Patent (2008-2012)
Part of an investigation about mobility in cities, the patent application was presented in May, 2008, under the name “Descodificador Espacial Táctil para Invidentes” (“Tactile Spatial Decoder for Blind People”) and was finally published in May, 2012. This device helps visually impaired people to understand certain properties of the surrounding space that they can´t see.
It works as it transform distances into vibrations over the hand´s surface. The user carries a glove which has a distance sensor in the index finger. As the user moves his arm in the same way he would do using a blind cane, his finger point different surfaces that define the space around, obtaining a register of distances. This information is transmitted to a micro controller that transforms it into vibration frequencies. There is a specific vibration frequency for each set of distance registers, so a different sensation is applied to the hand´s skin depending on what the user is pointing at every single moment.
