Helping firefighters find their way

Sometimes, the best inventions are those that pivot existing technologies for another use. For computer science PhD candidate Cassandra Laffan, repurposing a vibrating shirt created to elevate the video gaming experience as a tool to help firefighters find their way out of burning buildings is just such a challenge.

Working in TMU’s Computational Public Safety (CPS) Lab (external link) , Laffan is starting with a haptic shirt called ARAIG (external link) –As Real As It Gets–developed by a company called IFTech. Haptics is a field that signals with touch, for example, the vibration you feel on your phone or a game controller. Laffan started this research by working on computer simulations for her master’s thesis. Now in her PhD she is refining the technology, physically experimenting with the shirt by tracking subjects through campus buildings, including Kerr Hall and Victoria Building. “Firefighters and other emergency responders have to move through low visibility environments, and if they get disoriented, they can't rely on their eyesight to navigate back. The shirt will give them physical directions,” explains Laffan. 

Laffan has already published several papers, supported by her academic co-supervisors, professors Elliott Coleshill and CPS lab lead Alex Ferworn. “I've been given a lot of free reign in the direction where I want to take this research and guidance if I'm stumped for an idea. Their mentorship has been very helpful,” she says.

As a professor at Seneca Polytechnic, where she completed her joint undergraduate degree and first met Coleshill, Laffan hopes to stay in academia and also in the public safety field. “Forest fires in Canada are now an ongoing problem due to climate change. I want to see the technology I've contributed save the life of a firefighter, which in turn will save other lives.”

 The CPS Lab was recently featured on The Forefront podcast on how they are using ARAIG technology to save firefighters’ lives.