3 ms·

I read about a hobby project a while back that used vibrating motors to keep the wearer aware of magnetic north. It supposedly made quite a difference. Here's a

• ncmncm 5y ago
  That was a good idea, but a very stupid execution. All you need is an ear bud that clicks as your head turns past each cardinal point. (The click can vary by which point it is.) You can implement this with 10 grams of microcontroller and a magnetic sensor. Add a couple of grams more for GPS, and you can have it click when your head points to where you parked your jeep or tent. To maintain battery life, you turn on the GPS only once every 5 minutes, and rely on the compass for real-time orientation. (This might not be so useful for soldiers, because they have mostly long since wrecked their hearing. Maybe use barely perceptible electric shocks, for mil application.) After a very short time, the clicks etc. fade from conscious perception, and you just know your directions at all times.
  • skykooler 5y ago
    To have it be useful for those with hearing loss, it could use a little haptic motor instead to provide a virtual click you feel instead of hear.
    • ncmncm 5y ago
      Electric shock would be more hard-core though. Soldiers who complained about a barely perceptible electric shock would be laughed at.
  • LorenPechtel 5y ago
    That's not going to save as much power as you think--civilian GPS has to download a message from the satellites that repeats on a 30 second interval before it can give a good answer.
    • ncmncm 5y ago
      You may not need an answer that good.