mars footstep NASA

When the first person steps on Mars, their footwear will most likely be specially calibrated for the moment. The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, also known as Draper Labs, have developed boots that they hope will allow for astronauts to better understand the alien terrain surrounding them.

"We call them vibrotactile boots," says Alison Gibson, a Draper Fellow and former graduate student in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics in a press release. "The boots have built-in sensors and vibration motors, all connected to a small microcontroller that processes the sensor data and determines which cue to send to the user."

Gibson's idea works on the theory that shoes can assist and at times supplant visual systems in terms of guidance. Solid footing on Mars could be hard to come by and space suits in their current designs aren't meant for flexible walking. Helmets only further inhibit peripheral vision. The built-in sensors and tiny haptic motors on the vibrotactile boots aim to give explorers greater information about the ground on which they're stepping.

"When we tested the system, most participants found the visual-tactile and visual-only cues easier to use than the tactile-only or no cues presentation style," Gibson says. The hope is that even if the shoes don't end up on Mars, they could have real-world applications as well.

Navigation systems for the visually impaired could be a perfect place for a more tactile piece of footwear, and serve as an added safety measure for first responders and firefighters as they navigate smoke-filled rooms. That sort of information could appear to firefighters on their new augmented reality helmets.

Source: Draper Labs via TechCrunch

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io