Let your fingers do the driving From: EurekaAlert - 09/26/2010 If drivers are yakking on cell phones and don't hear spoken instructions to turn left or right from a passenger or navigation system, they still can get directions from devices that are mounted on the steering wheel and pull skin on the driver's index fingertips left or right, a University of Utah study found. The same technology also could help blind pedestrians with a cane that provides directional cues to the person's thumb. It could be used in a walking cane for the blind," with a moving button on the handle providing tactile navigation cues to help the person walk to the corner market, for example. The system also could help hearing-impaired people get navigation information through their fingertips if they cannot hear a system's computerized voice. Read the entire article at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/uou-lyf092410.php Links: Close-up of Fingertip Navigation Device http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/25941.php?from=169442 Touch-based Navigation Devices on Steering Wheel http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/25942.php?from=169442 Touch-based Navigation Information http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/25940.php Driving with Touch-based Navigation http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/25943.php?from=169442 Shear Feedback http://heml.eng.utah.edu/index.php/Haptics/ShearFeedback Fingertip Tactile Skin Stretch Feedback (Shear Feedback) with Captions (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ESEjWqIvg --- Tactile Feedback Devices Help Drivers "Feel" Directions From: NASA Tech Briefs Insider - 11/08/2010 A University of Utah study has proven that hearing-impaired drivers can get directions from devices mounted on the steering wheel that pull left or right on the skin of the driver's index fingertips. The technology also could help blind pedestrians with a cane that provides directional cues to the person's thumb. Read the entire article at: Let Your Fingers Do the Driving http://www.unews.utah.edu/p/?r=082310-2