Remote "whiskers" for long-distance haptic sensing (via IR!)

Quite clever; I should have come up with this myself.  I did suggest something like this for a haptic cane for the blind, but nothing as clever as 360* IR "whiskers".

New Scientist Technology Blog: Head-mounted device is the cat's whiskers

"...Check out this head-mounted haptic device developed by researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan. It lets a wearer "feel" their surroundings from a distance, roughly as if they had several long whiskers sticking out of the head. At least, that's what the researchers say.

A series of infrared sensors positioned around the device act as invisible whisker or antenna sensors. When these detect an object, a small motor vibrates on the appropriate side of the wearer's head to alert them."

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