HapticDive: An Intuitive Warning System for Underwater Users

Abstract

All divers—regardless of skill or activity—are constantly at risk of decompression sickness; mild symptoms can often go ignored, and can also be deadly if left untreated. Currently, divers receive training and carry a dive computer or a combination of a depth gauge and a depth watch for checking to avoid such situations. However, this equipment does not warn a user if they are in danger of decompression sickness, since users have to keep track of their ascension rates and since shallow-water divers often carry minimal equipment. This work proposes an application called HapticDive to keep track of a user’s depth in relation to the time passed underwater. The application paces their ascent to the surface by providing “stop” signals to users as an audio-visual combination, so that users avoid experiencing “the bends” (i.e., decompression sickness symptoms). HapticDive aims to provide the foundation for a cost-effective application that warns divers— especially surface supported divers, free divers, and general shallow-water divers—when they are at risk of decompression sickness, so they may avoid symptoms