The feeling of color: A haptic feedback device for the visually disabled

We describe a sensory augmentation system designed to provide the visually disabled with a sense of color. Our system consists of a glove with short-range optical color sensors mounted on its fingertips, and a torso-worn belt on which tactors (haptic feedback actuators) are mounted. Each fingertip sensor detects the observed object’s color. This information is encoded to the tactor through vibrations in respective locations and varying modulations. Early results suggest that detection of primary colors is possible with near 100% accuracy and moderate latency, with a minimum amount of training.