Avoiding stumbles, from spacewalks to sidewalks

Video of astronauts tripping over moon rocks can make for entertaining Internet viewing , but falls in space can jeopardize astronauts? missions and even their lives. Getting to one's feet in a bulky, pressurized spacesuit can consume time and precious oxygen reserves, and falls increase the risk that the suit will be punctured. Most falls happen because spacesuits limit astronauts? ability to both see and feel the terrain around them, so researchers from MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts are developing a new space boot with built-in sensors and tiny 'haptic' motors, whose vibrations can guide the wearer around or over obstacles. This week, at the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, the researchers presented the results of a preliminary study designed to determine what types of stimuli, administered to what parts of the foot, could provide the best navigation cues. On the basis of that study, they're planning further trials using a prototype of the boot. The work could also have applications in the design of navigation systems for the visually impaired. The development of such systems has been hampered by a lack of efficient and reliable means of communicating spatial information to users.