TACTILE DISPLAY-AIDED ORIENTATION AWARENESS (SUIT)
Research Area: Food and Clothing Systems
Expedition(s): 8 and 9
Principle Investigator(s): ● Jan B. Van Erp, TNO Human Factors, Soesterberg, Netherlands
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Tactile Display-aided Orientation Awareness (SUIT) project is to support
astronauts with a vibrotactile suit to help with orientation in space. The technology
demonstration consists of a vest with 56 vibrating elements covering the torso of the astronaut.
These elements provide cues to the astronaut of a given predefined “downwards” direction
within the International Space Station (ISS) by vibrating in that direction. As the vibration of one
of these elements is directly mapped to the astronaut’s body position, this makes it a fast and
intuitive way to present spatial information.
RESULTS
Data showed that spatial orientation in
microgravity differs from that on Earth,
possibly facilitating space motion
sickness and degrading performance. It
was found that artificial touch
information in the form of a localized
vibration on the torso that indicates
downward direction can make orienting
in microgravity faster, better, and easier.
The importance of the artificial touch
information seemed to increase over the
initial 7 days of staying in microgravity
while the weight of visual information
decreased over the same period. The
results underlined the capacity of the
brain to adapt to unusual environments
and to use and integrate artificial cues.
The data showed that the support tool results in: a faster completion of the tasks; better task
performance; and tasks being subjectively rated as easier than the control conditions in which the
support tool was off. It is concluded that the support tool is able to enlarge the astronaut’s
orientation awareness and that the experiment was both a successful proof-of-concept as well as a
successful technology demonstration. The results also showed that, on average, the astronaut
responded faster in microgravity than on Earth.
However, the experiment did reveal that the vest fit could be improved and the tool has more
potential in challenging situations, as compared to daily operations. Spin-off to applications can
be envisaged for pilots, divers, individuals with a visual or vestibular dysfunction, emergency
services, and the automobile and sports industry.
ESA astronaut André Kuipers performs the Tactile Display-aided
Orientation Awareness experiment, assisted by his Russian
colleague Gennadi Padalka.