Augmenting spatial awareness with Haptic Radar by Alvaro Cassinelli, Carson Reynolds, and Masatoshi Ishikawa; a paper presented at the International Seminar of Wearable Computing in Montreux, Switzerland. This paper is about an "haptic radar": device that would allow its users to perceive and respond simultaneously to multiple spatial information sources using haptic stimulus.

Each module of this wearable “haptic radar” acts as an artificial hair capable of sensing obstacles, measuring their range and transducing this information as a vibro-tactile cue on the skin directly beneath the module. Our first prototype (a headband) provides the wearer with 360 degrees of spatial awareness thanks to invisible, insect-like antennas. (...) Among the numerous potential applications of this interface are electronic travel aids and visual prosthetics for the blind, augmentation of spatial awareness in hazardous working environments, as well as enhanced obstacle awareness for motorcycle or car drivers (in this case the sensors may cover the surface of the car)

Avoiding an "unseen" object:

Why do I blog this? I was interested by this spatially extended skin paradigm and how it can be used with regards to the topic of spatial awareness. Slightly connected to my PhD research, this is intriguing because it relies on lower-level processes of awareness (from a cognitive science standpoint)