Honda creates GPS navigation system for your shoes

The vast majority of streets in Japan don’t have names, therefore Japanese drivers were early adopters of car satnav systems. Now Honda Motor Co has designed a brand-new navigation system, but that one is for your shoes.

Called Ashirase, outwardly the machine looks like a couple of gizmos you clip to your shoes’ tongues. The entire devices, however, actually look similar to sandals, though they’re mostly hidden from view since they slide within your shoes.

The system works together with a smartphone app, where you set your destination before you tripped on your own pedestrian journey. Once you’re under way, sensors permit the system to determine your present position, and it offers you directions on the way via vibrations in your shoes.

The straps of these devices are outfitted with an array compact oscillators, and firing up different sectors indicates different directions. When the section privately of your left foot vibrates, for instance, which means “Turn left,” and rumbling along the exterior edge of your right foot is “Turn right.” About to go too much and miss your turning point? Vibrations around both feet are the “Stop” signal, as soon as you’ve got yourself facing the right direction, a tingling over both sets of toes tells you to move forward.

If the system takes a smartphone, though, why not simply use a variety of other Navigation apps, you might be wondering. The answer is that Ashirase has been designed with the needs of visually impaired people in mind. For all those with poor eyesight or other ocular issues, checking your smartphone screen within an outdoor/outside your house environment could be difficult and even impossible, Being hands-free means Ashirase doesn’t cause problems for all those walking with a white cane, and the guidance vibrations replacing verbal instructions remove the necessity to wear an earphone and hinder the user’s ability to hear the surrounding environment, a crucial safety concern for individuals struggling to see cars or other potential hazards.

Honda is developing the machine in conjunction with a new company, also known as Ashirase, that the automaker helped in the establishment of, and hopes to take it to advertise sometime in 2022.