New Tech Zaps Walkers in the Right Direction
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iStock/Thinkstock(HANOVER, Germany) — Scientists at Germany’s University of Hannover have mated GPS technology with mild electric shocks as a way to literally steer people in the right direction.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the scientists have successfully tested their device, which sends an electrical pulse into the muscle that runs inside the knee to the top of the zapped thigh, effectively steering the walker right or left to follow directions via a Bluetooth device — and without the need for the traveler to look at a map on a mobile device.
Max Pfeiffer, one of the developers, sees tourists someday able to take in the sights without averting their gazes — or firefighters guided in or out of burning structures where visibility is blocked by smoke.
As for the “gentle tug” the impulses bring, he insists they’re easy to override if you choose to find your own path.
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