A haptic sonar glove developed by Ph.D. candidates Aisen Carolina Chacin and Takeshi Ozu of the Empowerment Informatics program at Tsukuba University in Japan allows wearers to "feel" objects that are just out of reach in underwater settings. In situations where there's limited visibility, like flooded streets in an emergency, gloves like these could prove especially useful.

Inspired by the dolphin, IrukaTact (iruka means 'dolphin' in Japanese) uses echolocation to detect objects below the water, and provides haptic feedback to the wearer with pulsing jets of water. As the wearer's hand floats closer to a sunken object, the stronger the jets become, and the wearer feels more pressure on her fingertips. Since the apparatus has minimal bulk, the wearer can grasp objects easily after they've been found.

"Our overall goal was to expand haptics," says Chacin. "How can you feel different textures or sense depth without actually touching the object? Vibration alone doesn't cut it for me, or most people, for that matter."