Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

North Paw

sensebridge.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 142 posts

Re: North Paw

#71

Post by xcskier56 »

googlryas wrote: post #3

I thought about building something like this about 20 years ago, but decided not to.This is actually a skill you can teach yourself if you just start paying attention. It works pretty much everywhere except for in labyrinth-like buildings. The last time I couldn't figure out which Way North was was in Lord Leicester hotel in warwick 5 years ago.

I have always had a very strong internal sense of direction and I've found that it relies strongly on knowing which way is north. This means that when I'm in a mall or other large building (malls are the worst) I get very lost and have to think hard about which way is which. I usually have to paint a birds eye view and know which stores are on which corner of the mall and orient myself that way. This also means that occasionally when I'm in a new city, I get north/south mixed up and am hopelessly lost

Re: North Paw

#72

Post by viggity »

shagie wrote: post #56
isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

Was it the battery pack? Looking at https://www.adafruit.com/product/5579 and https://www.adafruit.com/product/1201 it should be fairly possible to get to a more reasonable size. As an alternative to the leg, having the vibration as something in the collar might be an alternative. One of the "hmm... things to make" is a lidar detector for things behind a car that then is mapped to an array of the vibration motors tha…

I drive a Chevy Suburban (6 kids), its a huge car and can be hard to see my surroundings. When I'm backing out of a parking spot, it will vibrate the left or right side of my seat if a car is coming from the appropriate direction. It'll also do the same if it senses you're drifting into another lane or if you are changing lanes purposefully (blinker on) and someone is in my blindspot. It is extremely convenient

Re: North Paw

#73

Post by HardwareLust »

That is a fascinating project. We were just having a discussion about this last week, how some people seem to know intuitively what direction is which, and then there's me, where I have no freaking idea what direction I'm facing unless I have a watch and can see the sun lol.

Re: North Paw

#75

Post by dvzk »

etrautmann wrote: post #32
isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

I'm curious how well oriented you felt before. I currently always feel like I can point to north no matter what, so I'm wondering if I'd benefit from this or not? I suppose those abilities get worse when I'm not in a city with an aligned grid or inside a building, like hiking on a trail where you can't see the sun. Still, I'm not sure what I'd gain from this and curious if there's a next level of awareness to attain.

Trail navigation is an overlapping skillset. You learn to recognize landmarks, topography, water flow, slopes, shadows, horizons, wind direction, and the sun/stars/moon. Maintaining an internal compass relative to a fixed location is indispensable. If you can do that you should be able to crudely reorient after moving blindfolded through switchbacks.

Re: North Paw

#76

Post by AceJohnny2 »

lhnz wrote: post #62

I remember when the Apple Watch was first released, this is how I thought directions were going to be implemented. I was so disappointed when it turned out this wasn't the case.

Problem with a Watch is that, as your swing and twist your arm as you're walking or holding anything, its cardinal orientation can vary wildly.

Re: North Paw

#77

Post by sitkack »

hex4def6 wrote: post #36
isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

I worked with the guy that designed this gadget (Hi Eric!), back in ~2009 or so. It would be really cool to see another version with smaller electronics, flex PCB, etc. Other features, like connection to a smart phone for waypoint navigation would be neat.

I wonder how well a headband would work.

Having everything integrated into a baseball cap makes the most sense.

Re: North Paw

#78

Post by lucasgonze »

kelnos wrote: post #58
usgroup wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Belt is better still by the same arc of reason.

Downside of a belt is that you have a much longer way around your body, which means longer wires, and perhaps an easier chance of breaking something. A belt also implies pants that can accept a belt, which probably wouldn't work for a lot of people, at least not every day with every type/style/color of clothing. The anklet is reasonably unobtrusive, and unless you are wearing form-fitting pants, you can keep it under…

Underpants. Northpaw Underpants.

Re: North Paw

#79

Post by jackbravo »

kelnos wrote: post #60
staplung wrote: post #31

IIRC Oliver Sacks was interested in this kind of thing. Think there's an episode of Radiolab where he talks about how ho used to carry around a couple of extremely strong, oblong magnets in his pockets that would stay oriented north even while he moved around. He wanted to see if his brain could learn to make sense of the input and develop a new sense, akin to the magnetic navigation that retain birds have. Not sure…

> do not have words for "left" and "right" and instead use cardinal terms for everything. Speakers of such languages presumably then must know their orientation at all times. Huh, interesting. Do you know if they actually do know their orientation at all times, or is it just that "west" is always "left" and "east" is always "right", regardless of absolute orientation?

From my own experience I would guess they know their orientation at all times.

In Guadalajara, Mexico, where I live. I've seen it first hand. People of certain age that lived near the center of the city use an absolute system for navigating the city, and to give directions on how to get to places with phrases like "up the river", "down the river", of an old river no longer existent that used to pass through the center of the city. And they always know which way goes to the center of the city, even when going outside the city center and to unknown neighborhoods. My father is one of such people.

Re: North Paw

#80

Post by throwaway81523 »

This is a pretty old product and idk if they are still being sold, despite that page. I wonder if the thread title should include a date, and what it should be. It would be at least 5 years back.
Post reply on HN