Third Eye for the Blind

The Third Eye for the Blind uses an ultrasonic sensor to measure different distances. It also has a vibrating motor that will vibrate, an LED that will light up, and a Piezo buzzer that will buzz when an obstacle approaches. This project is designed to help blind people locate where they are walking.

Engineer

Kaaya M.

Area of Interest

Biomedical Engineering

School

Saratoga High School

Grade

Incoming Sophomore

Reflection

 

 

 

 

Overall, attending BlueStamp was a great experience for me because I learned so many things that I can use later on in my life, for example in robotics. Also, I learned how to use ultrasonic sensors and how to code on Arduino. I’ve also I learned several life skills like to be patient and never give up. There were some times in the process of making this project that I was really unhappy with the little progress I was making, but I didn’t let that get in the way of the future progress I made. I’m also happy that I attended BlueStamp because I have met several people who have become my friends over the last four weeks. 

Final Milestone

This is a picture of my finished project. The ultrasonic sensor will sense different distances and in response, the vibrating motor will let the user know that an obstacle is near. Also, an LED will light up to notify the user as well.

For my third milestone, I had to code for the Arduino. I used the code online to code for the Arduino except I made some changes in the locations of the Trig and Echo pins. After I was ready to upload the code onto the Arduino board, I checked the ports and the correct port was not there. I tried downloading a driver, restarting my computer, and numerous other things, but nothing worked. I decided to try another Arduino Nano board, and it worked. This showed that it was a problem with the Arduino board itself. Now with my code, the ultrasonic sensor will detect if there is an obstacle within 50 centimeters, and it will let the vibrating motor, the buzzer, and the LED know. After doing this, it notifies the user that there is an obstacle. While testing my project, the ultrasonic sensor read distances correctly, and all other parts functioned properly.

Second Milestone

This is a picture of the back of the printed circuit board. These are all the wires I soldered that connect all the components together.

For my second milestone, I finished soldering all the wires that connect all the components on the printed circuit board together. First, I had to solder wires from each of the four pins on the ultrasonic sensor. I soldered the GND pin to the GND pin on the Arduino, the VCC pin to the VIN pin on the Arduino, the Trig pin to pin 12 on the Arduino, and the Echo pin to pin 10 on the Arduino. I also soldered a wire from the negative end of the buzzer to the negative end of the LED, and then another wire from the negative end of the LED to the GND pin on the Arduino. Then I soldered another wire from the positive end of the buzzer to the first leg of the switch, and then another wire from the positive end of the buzzer to the third leg of the switch. Lastly, I soldered a wire from the middle leg of the buzzer to the positive end of the LED, and then another wire from the positive end of the LED to pin 5 on the Arduino. An obstacle I ran into while completing this milestone was that often times I had to solder multiple wires at one joint, and I put too much solder, which meant that I had to desolder and then a wire would come out. It took lots of time to solder the wires again, but it was a good experience for me to learn.

In the future, I plan to glue the PCB to the glove to make my project more portable. Also, I plan on finishing my code for the Arduino and doing some test runs for my project.

First Milestone

This is a picture of my printed circuit board. It has two female header pins and a buzzer soldered to it. I also soldered the red wire from the vibrating motor to the positive end of the buzzer, and the black wire to the negative end of the buzzer.

For my first milestone, I made a connection between the Arduino and the printed circuit board, and I have made a connection between the vibrating motor and the buzzer. I had to solder two female header pins into the printed circuit board to make a connection between the Arduino and the printed circuit board. I also had to solder the buzzer into the printed circuit board. Then, I had to solder the red wire from the vibrating motor to the positive leg of the buzzer and I had to solder the black wire from the vibrating motor to the negative leg of the buzzer. Completing my first milestone required a lot of work and research because I have not worked with Arduino and I have not soldered before. To overcome this I practiced a lot of soldering with LEDs and resistors. I also researched Arduino and did some practice circuits on a breadboard and jumper wires. Doing this allowed me to understand how energy travels and how to make an LED light up. Next, my goal is to make a circuit with the LED and the switch on the printed circuit board, which will lead to my second milestone.
Kaaya's Bill of Materials
Kaaya's Build Plan

Starter Project

This is a picture of my finished starter project, the Simon Says Game.

My starter project, the Simon Says Game, is a game that tests a users’ memory skills. This iconic game required several steps to make which I will begin to explain. I had to solder the 2 0.1μF capacitors, the 10K resistor, the ATMEGA microcontroller, and the buzzer to the bottom of the simon PC board. Then, I soldered the 4 LEDs, the 2 slide switches, and the 4 battery clips to the top of the simon PC board. I added the 2 batteries into the battery clips on both ends of the simon PC board. After turning on the sound and power switches, the lights turn on and the buzzing starts. The first time I tried playing the game, it didn’t work because my soldering wasn’t complete. Due to this, I had to go back and resolder some parts, like the speaker. Also, the battery holders didn’t touch the 2 batteries so I had to tighten them so that the metal was touching the batteries. After making these changes, the game worked. Next, I plan to learn more about Arduino and start my main project.

Engineering Summer Camp, Soldering, Building, Arduino, Coding, Third Eye for the Blind 

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