The Unfolding Space Paper
- In the summer of 2021 I conducted a study about the Unfolding Space Glove.
- In January 2022 I finished my Master’s thesis about this study.
- And in February 2022 a paper came out at MDPI, that now reached over 30 citations.
Paper Abstract
This paper documents the design, implementation and evaluation of the Unfolding Space Glove—an open source sensory substitution device. It transmits the relative position and distance of nearby objects as vibratory stimuli to the back of the hand and thus enables blind people to haptically explore the depth of their surrounding space, assisting with navigation tasks such as object recognition and wayfinding. The prototype requires no external hardware, is highly portable, operates in all lighting conditions, and provides continuous and immediate feedback—all while being visually unobtrusive. Both blind (n = 8) and blindfolded sighted participants (n = 6) completed structured training and obstacle courses with both the prototype and a white long cane to allow performance comparisons to be drawn between them. The subjects quickly learned how to use the glove and successfully completed all of the trials, though still being slower with it than with the cane. Qualitative interviews revealed a high level of usability and user experience. Overall, the results indicate the general processability of spatial information through sensory substitution using haptic, vibrotactile interfaces. Further research would be required to evaluate the prototype’s capabilities after extensive training and to derive a fully functional navigation aid from its features.
MDPI – Sensors | Scientific Paper
Published on 26.02.22 in the special issue "Spatial Perception and Navigation in the Absence of Vision" of MDPI – Sensors.
ResearchGate | All Publications
My profile on ResearchGate hosting all publications. 2018 bachelor thesis and proposal (theoretical paper) are only available in German.
Impressions from the Paper