Docomo gets a grip on haptic tech with Yubi Navi

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Thanks to smartphone GPS apps, getting lost is a thing of the past. The downside is that users’ attention can be dangerously focused on the smartphone screen and not the road ahead.

NTT Docomo Inc. is showcasing the prototype of a product that may keep users on their path and out of danger.

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Called Yubi Navi (yubi means fingers in Japanese), the product is handheld device that can guide them to designated destinations via haptic feedback – vibrations and motions that give hints to the user.

Via wireless Bluetooth, the Yubi Navi device receives directions straight from the user’s smartphone to guide them in the right way. For instance, the silicon-covered stick vibrates right before the user is supposed to make a turn. Or if a right turn is required, the tip of the device moves to right to give users a heads up.

It can also work as a communication device with two Yubi Navi device being connected to each other through Docomo’s communication network, and if one person squeezes his or her stick, the other person’s device will vibrate.

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Docomo said it still has no concrete plan to release the Yubi Navi device for commercial use but hopes to make them available in the future.

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