Joel Kiernan is a mechanical engineer and Stanford graduate student.

Wearable Compass for Blind Navigation

  • Research Question How can haptics be used to communicate orientation to blind users?

Inspired by a lunchtime conversation with a friend who is blind, I designed and built a wearable “bracelet” that could tell a user where north is. Using this, a blind person could passively get orientation directions to navigate a new environment. 

I tested this device with my blind friend. I led him around a patch of grass in the shade (a particularly hard environment to get orientation in) until he lost his sense of orientation. He then used my device to navigate back to where we started.

I’m currently working on miniaturizing my device and making it more ergonomic.