most likely a horrible idea

[Sergalicious]

i hope to one day get myself a fursuit or two. most likely partials. partly because of an idea i have.

so i understand that fursuits have horrible tunnel vision. and i am in a robotics club so i understand the power of ultrasonic range finders. so i had the idea that if you made a partial that looks like it had armor or something and snuck ultrasonic range finders into the shoulders and back, then hooked them up to a system that made a beep in the left ear if the left on saw something with in, lets say ten feet. beep on the right for the right sensor one and maybe two beeps from both if the back one saw something. then i had the crazier idea of having a cyborg like fursuit and got my hands of a laser scanner like on self driving cars. and hooked it up to a haptic vest so then when the scanner detected something at lets say at 120 degrees to my left i would " sense" the object there. this would act sort of having a radar mounted on a suit so in a way you would feel the world around you instead of just seeing it thought tunnel vision. i understand this would be difficult and expansive but with the direction i plan to lead my life i would have the funds and knowledge to do this ( robotics engineer)

so i ask, is this a overly complex idea, or could it actually be a helpful thing?

i got the idea of the haptic vest/ laser scanner from the book daemon http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451228731

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_sensor

[Marius the Shusky]

Seems very interesting and very helpful for fursuiters. (Shout out to engineering!)

As you pointed out, it is helpful to detect the presence of any large objects such as people, walls, etc; however, I wonder how one could get by in, say, a convention full of people. It might be annoying to tolerate so much beeping at once. Perhaps if there could be a way to turn off the sensors or have some time interval between the beeping could get around to the annoyance? Who knows, it's just a thought. Integrating the sensors into a suit shouldn't be much of a problem, as far as I could see, but I wouldn't know where to such sensor.

But overall, I think this is a pretty helpful idea and could bring in some high demand if executed correctly...

[Sergalicious]

it would probably have a button on the hand to toggle it or something. the main issues i can see here are that the laser scanner would be very expansive, same with the haptic vest. also the scanner would most likely be shoulder mounted. but on a pole so it could get over the head. however fursuit heads are big and it may not fit. it would hardly fit without a head based on what i have seen so far. and then there would have to be a backpack for a computer and batteries. maybe a raspberry pi for the computer. also they might need hard mounts so they location hey would be mounted may not be furry unless there was a way to work them into the suit itself while keeping them hidden from view. but they. the range finders may do this but never the scanner.

[Mu Rho Ni]

idk about range finders id probably try to rig something akin to the oculus rift into the suit with cameras so vision isn't hindered as much. it would still have some limitations but you'd get a wider range of view.

[Sergalicious]

im not sure if something like an oculus rift is as good idea, what i think it does is it just give you depth perception to make a game more realistic, but you still have depth perception ( still have 2 eyes) in a suit so it probably wouldn't do much

[Kobuk]

Why not just get a partial suit from here?
http://www.lionofthesun.com/
He's been known to put various electronic items in the heads or other fursuit parts, including nightvision. 

[Jacoby Quinn]

Why not just get a partial suit from here?
http://www.lionofthesun.com/
He's been known to put various electronic items in the heads or other fursuit parts, including nightvision. 

because that guys suits are amazing, but so are the prices

i think it sounds like a good idea, i've toyed with similar ideas, electrical engineering here, I don't know much about PCB yet though

[GrayWolf448]

it seems easier to get 2 cameras and put them in the fursuit's eyes and then getting one of the good tv glasses and hooking it up to the inside. also there wouldn't be all the beeping. you could just get in bio engineering and try to turn your self into a furry if you want to :3 i wouldn't take the risks of being a test subject, but if that ever is possible to change your DNA and become a furry, not just get plastic surgury ild save up some money :3 and what i mean is that your kids would be furries too complete DNA change but im not sure how you can go through that wile still alive :/

[Sergalicious]

the point is more of a situational awareness, and less of a field of vision. but please engorge me with the reasons of why you think cameras and glasses would be a good idea. maybe if the camera was detachable and made to look cyborg-y then you could hold it in your hand and aim it around but other then that im not sure the usefulness of that.

[GrayWolf448]

i just like the idea of using your sight and your natural senses and being like a real furry not a cyborg furry. i was never really a fan of having non organic add-ons for ex) robotic arms/eyes even tho they give you a big advantage over organic things. but im ok with it when it's bio engineered even tho tech is stronger i would reader be weaker than other people than having robotic limbs/eyes

so ya pretty much putting you in the place of the fursuit and seeing in the views from it's eyes and not sensors or extra cameras. so i want it to be as real as i can get most likely because of how much i want to be a furry that i try to make the fursuit feel as if i was a furry 

[Kobuk]

If you want "situational awareness", then you need to use and focus/sharpen what senses you have (Eyesight, hearing, touch, smell, etc.) to know where you are and how to get around.

All the electronic gizmos you describe sound nice, but to include most or all of that in a fursuit is problematic. It'll make certain parts or areas of the suit bulkier. Having all that extra equipment on you may make you hotter. And how are you going to power everything? What is your power source? Where will you put it? What happens if something breaks? How will the item get fixed?

[Sergalicious]

i just like the idea of using your sight and your natural senses and being like a real furry not a cyborg furry. i was never really a fan of having non organic add-ons for ex) robotic arms/eyes even tho they give you a big advantage over organic things. but im ok with it when it's bio engineered even tho tech is stronger i would reader be weaker than other people than having robotic limbs/eyes

so ya pretty much putting you in the place of the fursuit and seeing in the views from it's eyes and not sensors or extra cameras. so i want it to be as real as i can get most likely because of how much i want to be a furry that i try to make the fursuit feel as if i was a furry 

So you are going for realism not so much as what I'm talking about.

And kobuk. The main reason I would do this method over improving my own true senses would be I think the idea is a cool one. I like the concept of mechanical augmentation to the body, like the sensors so if I had them I would use them out of suit also just because I like the concept and less of the actual thing. And for the power and all of thT I was thinking there would be a backpack. It wouldnot be directly implemented into the suit.