Patent 9613505 was granted and assigned to Toyota on April, 2017 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Technology for localized guidance of a body part of a user to specific objects within a physical environment using a vibration interface is described. An example system may include a vibration interface wearable on an extremity by a user. The vibration interface includes a plurality of motors. The system includes sensor(s) coupled to the vibrotactile system and a sensing system coupled to the sensor(s) and the vibration interface. The sensing system is configured to analyze a physical environment in which the user is located for a tangible object using the sensor(s), to generate a trajectory for navigating the extremity of the user to the tangible object based on a relative position of the extremity of the user bearing the vibration interface to a position of the tangible object within the physical environment, and to guide the extremity of the user along the trajectory by vibrating the vibration interface.