Ideas worth spreading

Wearable tech that helps you navigate by touch

1,821,436 views |

Keith Kirkland |

TED Residency

• December 2018

Keith Kirkland is developing wearable tech that communicates information using only the sense of touch. He's trying to figure out: What gestures and vibration patterns could intuitively communicate ideas like "stop" or "go"? Check out his team's first product, a navigation device for the blind and visually impaired, and learn more about the entirely new "haptic language" he's creating to power it.

Keith Kirkland is developing wearable tech that communicates information using only the sense of touch. He's trying to figure out: What gestures and vibration patterns could intuitively communicate ideas like "stop" or "go"? Check out his team's first product, a navigation device for the blind and visually impaired, and learn more about the entirely new "haptic language" he's creating to power it.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Join the Wayband community and help us build a better way to navigate.

Volunteer as a guide at Achilles International to support runners with disabilities.

About the speaker

Keith Kirkland

Haptic designer

See speaker profile

Keith Kirkland is the cofounder of WearWorks, a company that builds products and experiences that communicate information through touch.

David J. Linden | Penguin Books, 2016 | Book

Touch: The Science of the Hand, Heart, and Mind

This book by David Linden gives a very comprehensive understanding of both the physiology and psychology of touch. And the implication he draws from the research gives a deep understanding of how the sense of touch deeply impacts our perceptions and lives. Highly recommended for anyone that wants to really understand how touch works.

Discovery Channel, 2018 | Watch

WearWorks helped Simon Wheatcroft, an ultramarathon runner from the UK who is also blind, run the first 15 miles of the NYC marathon without sighted assistance. This is AI is a feature-length documentary examining the possibilities of artificial intelligence and includes the full story of how they ran the marathon, and of what the learned along the way.

Greg Milner | W. W. Norton & Company, 2017 | Book

Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds

Pinpoint is a deeply engaging story of the wonderful and free utility we all have come to know as GPS. It starts with the story of the ancient Polynesians, talks about its early history as a military technology, and shows the extent to which GPS has become a critical infrastructure — from beet farming to maintaining financial markets around the world. It also delves into how GPS is affecting how we think. A wonderful read on how deep the GPS rabbit hole goes.

Steven Pinker | Basic Books, 2015 | Book

Words and Rules: The Ingredients Of Language

A book about linguistics that looks to explore how the building blocks of language are formed. The team at WearWorks has been exploring how languages are organized to gain insight into how to structure a new language based on touch. Steven Pinker does a wonderful job showing that language is more of a democratic and evolving organism.

Erik Weihenmeyer | Thomas Dunne Books, 2017 | Book

No Barriers: A Blind Man's Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon

The book was written by Erik Weihenmeyer, the first blind person to summit Mount Everest. The book starts off with the powerful statement — "Don't make Everest the greatest thing you ever do" — then Erik decides not to rest on his laurels and starts his next adventure, kayaking the Grand Canyon solo. He also founded a nonprofit by the same name, No Barriers, that supports people breaking through all barriers.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Join the Wayband community and help us build a better way to navigate.

Volunteer as a guide at Achilles International to support runners with disabilities.