You're never going to have the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider. But maybe, just maybe, you can have Peter Parker's spider-sense someday…
New Scientist has word on creator Victor Mateevitsi from the University of Illinois in Chicago. He designed "SpiderSense," which "lets you feel how close you are to a nearby object [and] can even let the wearer navigate with their eyes closed."
SpiderSense has "small robotic arms packaged in modules with microphones that send out and pick up ultrasonic reflections from objects. When the ultrasound detects someone moving closer to the microphone, the arms respond by exerting a growing pressure on the body. Seven of these modules are distributed across the suit to give the wearer as near to 360 degree ultrasound coverage as possible."
Of course, whereas Spider-Man is able to use his other superhuman abilities to, say, dodge a punch that he senses coming at him from behind, one would assume that the wearer of SpiderSense would simply sense the punch coming nanoseconds before being hit. Still, Mateevitsi does apparently have comic books on the brain: When testing the suit, he gave blindfolded students cardboard throwing stars to toss at anyone the suit sensed approaching them. They had a 95 percent success rate.
Real-world applications of the suit could include increasing cyclists' awareness of road traffic around them as well as helping the visually impaired (where trials are planned).
Now all we need is a suit that attracts Emma Stone.
Via ScreenCrush
Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN at scottcollura and on Facebook.
Source : ign[dot]com
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