Bat slippers
To navigate your way around the house in the dark, try this ingenious footwear
鈥淚 try to tidy before bed, but the kids鈥� Lego often litters the landing, making it hard to creep to the toilet at night,鈥� says Lou Tripp. 鈥淭urning on the light wakes everyone, but so do my howls of pain when I step on a stray piece. How can I keep the family sleeping soundly and avoid injury?鈥�
A nocturnal navigation aid could stop you from being the thing that goes bump in the night. But form is important in this instance: a clever device is no use if you leave it by your bedside in somnambulant stupidity. My solution had to involve something I would take to the toilet anyway. A very short process of elimination pointed to slippers.
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For the function, I took inspiration from evolution, looking to animals that have solved a similar problem: bats. I figured that by combining sonar sensors and a lightweight, programmable Arduino board, I could echolocate obstacles with my feet. One sensor on the front and outer side of each slipper should be sufficient, even if I accidentally crab-walk my way towards danger.
How should the slippers warn me? Audio would force me to fit the rest of the household with ear plugs at night. Instead, I added small vibration motors beside each sensor and programmed them to up their output as they got nearer to objects 鈥� like wearable rumble strips.
The next hurdle was power. Small batteries don鈥檛 add too much weight, but if I鈥檓 half asleep, I am unlikely to remember to switch on my slippers before I set off. A pressure switch is no good as it would turn off with each step. Conductive Velcro is fiddly and most latching buttons would be uncomfortable underfoot.
The alternative I devised was a docking station by the bed. Magnetic switches in the heels of the slippers are held open by a magnet in the bed frame. Walk away from where your bat slippers have been roosting and the switch springs shut, closing the circuit and activating the footwear.
The bat slippers have given me confidence in my midnight manoeuvres. One downside is that they might be popular with the kids. And that means they will probably get left on the landing.
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