Belts can do a lot of cool things in this world, but guide us where we need to go? The philosophical implications of this aside, the US Army has begun testing out a haptic belt to do just that for our armed forces on the ground.
The Army Research Office in North Carolina is working on the device and hopes to use it to eventually remotely guide soldiers on the battlefield. How does it work? A crackerjack combination of a GPS, an accelerometer and a good ole compass. The haptic part of the equation comes into play via vibrations which gently nudge the soldier in the right direction.
Early tests indicate that the devices are more accurate than a handheld GPS. With this in mind, it shouldn’t be long before these bad boys start showing up in battlefields all over. Don’t worry. After that I’m sure you’ll be able to buy one. I’ll use it to nudge me in the direction of pizza.
