HaptiGo: A navigational ‘tap on the shoulder’

Complex inter-personal interactions occur in the course of pedestrian navigation. Within familiar environments, prior knowledge helps pedestrians reach their destination seamlessly. However, in unexplored environments or when otherwise engaged, a greater awareness of surroundings or higher cognitive loads are required. We propose HaptiGo, a lightweight haptic vest that provides pedestrians both navigational intelligence and obstacle detection capabilities. HaptiGo consists of optimally-placed vibrotactile sensors that utilize natural and small form factor interaction cues, thus emulating the invisible sensation of being passively guided towards the intended direction. We evaluated HaptiGo through a study conducted on a group of pedestrians, whom were tasked with navigating through several different waypoints while engaged in cognitively demanding tasks. We found that HaptiGo was able to successfully navigate users with timely alerts of incoming obstacles without increasing cognitive load, thereby increasing their environmental awareness. Additionally, we show that users are able to respond to directional information without training.