Anyone have a north sense / other compass-like implant?

Hey - I'm writing a story about devices that tell us when we're facing North (or another direction / just has some compass functionality).

Does anyone have an implant like this? 

Comments

  • edited October 2016
    McSTUFF  but I don't think it has been tested internally yet.  

    I don't have a compass built into my cheap phone and have never tried making my own apps but it sounds like something that could easily be done using a device many already carry.  It could output a vibration when facing north or output an audio signal which could go to an earphone or be used to drive other devices to get that signal into your body and able to be sensed.


  • I have had very little luck developing a haptic compass. My goal is to produce a compass that is purely mechanical so batteries aren't necessary. This has turned out to be infinitely more difficult than anticipated. The project is back-burnered until I get some Eureka moment. All the haptic compasses I'm aware of, are electronic and @Birdhandz mentioned them already.
    If anyone has an idea for the mechanical design of a haptic compass, I'd still love to chat.

  • @McSTUFF I assume you want to avoid batteries as your only reason for being mechanical, I'm very against traditional lithium ion batteries, so I like things like Thermoelectric Generators. Have you considered Peltier Generators to charge some sort of capacitor that could momentarily power something every time it fully charges? Like getting North and the activating an LED? (Vibrators use a lot of power.)

    http://www.shop.customthermoelectric.com/main.sc;jsessionid=E51DDE0F15326A332BEA6A776802499A.p3plqscsfapp004

    (Not endorsing anyone in particular, that's just who I plan on using for my data storage implant that I'm working on.)
  • @Jupiter, safety is partially the reason for wanting a purely mechanical compass. It is also a challenge. There has to be a good way to do this and it has become a puzzle I want to unravel.
    Thermopiles, like Peltier devices, won't generate power inside the body. They need a temperature differential but a human is pretty much the same temperature everywhere.

  • edited October 2016
    Do they need a /constant/ temp differential? or, would providing localized warmth for a shorter period of time be enough to provide an active charging state?
  • Peltier generators are wildly inefficient. If you do an image search for “Peltier Light” you will come across projects that power an LED with a candle. Therein lies the problem, to power something as low-draw as and LED you need a flame on one side and room temperature on the other side. Which is disappointing because I think it would be great fun to recharge an implant by jumping into a hot tub or taking a hot shower.

    Remember those flashlights that generated power when you shook them? They were popular about 18 years ago (dating myself). Something like that might be a better candidate for electricity generation but not for a compass which would get interference from the magnet. Perhaps a pedometer could be made by sending a Bluetooth burst every 100 steps, assuming 100 steps is how long it takes to charge. ButI’m getting off topic.

    Implantable electronic compasses should be possible with current technology but no one has taken enough time to develop one meant for implantation. Implantable mechanical compasses seem doable but no one has made a usable prototype. Notice I say usable, I’ve produced about 30 non-working models. [LINK]

  • Obviously a bit far off, but this tech could solve basically every single power problem.
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140519160710.htm
  • @AmosKamal, it looks like they were able to transmit 2mW of power through 5cm of tissue. That's pretty good!! I wonder if the size of the plate they use to receive the power is proportional to the amount of power they can collect, or if such a thing can be scaled up!
  • edited October 2016
    Yeah, I think with further experimentation and design it could be much better. but do you think that at least a rudimentary level generator like this is possible with this community? Or is that something that would need multiple expert level engineers to make.
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