Sensovo reaches second place in the 10th edition of European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC). Jan Walter Schroeder and his team presented the world’s first commercial wearable tactile navigation system, a smartphone app with a waist belt that guides the wearer via vibration.

The Navipal app uses thephone’s internal GPS receiver for positioning and communicates via bluetooth with the belt, which carries eight tiny vibrating motors spaced equally and powered by a rechargeable battery. The belt provides navigation cues by vibrating one or more motors in the needed direction. The intensity and duration change according to the distance to the destination.

Sensovo Navipal System

Many people can benefit from this innovative way of navigation, such as tourists, geocachers, emergency services, cyclists, motorcyclists, and the visually impaired.