Third Eye For The Blind

The Third Eye for the Blind is meant to help blind individuals to navigate their environment without any harm. It senses how far away an object is. If it is less than 50 cm away the Piezo buzzer or the vibrating motor(chosen by a flip switch) will activate. The 3D mapping comes from the frequency of the buzzing; as it gets closer to an object, the buzzing gets faster.

Engineer

Sunskar Dhanker

Area of Interest

Computer Science/Hardware Engineering

School

Monte Vista High School

Grade

Incoming Senior

Final Milestone

Sunskar's Modification Milestone

In my modificaiton milestone I faced many challenges. I had to design a sunglass 3D model. I found a basic frame online and created a small bracket to fit the ultra sonic sensor on to the glasses. I also had to find a way to make the knee band. The two quick and feasible options were to but a knee brace and fit it on there or to create a knee band with the elastic band. I chose the elastic band because the band was cheaper and was easier to put on. The circuit is very similar to the glove so there was no problem there.

Next I will be adding a bone inductor. The bone inductor will shake your skull so you will hear sound but no one else can. I will also connect all the different modules with nRFs. By connecting them I will send a notification to the bone inductor on the glasses and then the piezo buzzer or the vibrating motor will only notify which body part is close to the object. This creates another safety feature.

In my modification milestone, I created two new modules: sunglasses and knee band. This allows more safety with crash detection. By adding these two modules, a blind individual will be able to detect whether something is near their feet or near their head that they normally wouldn’t see with their hand.
  1. 1
  2. 2

Third Milestone

Sunskar's Third Milestone

While I was striving to achieve my third milestone, I had to figure out what method I was gonna use to put the circuit on the glove. I started by using hot glue. However, the PCB kept falling off and the hot glue idea was scrapped. Then I had to learn to sew, and this method turned out to be very effective and allowed me to finish the milestone. 

My next step is to put the circuit on 3d printed glasses to allow “eyes” for the blind.

For the third MileStone I had to put the circuits on the glove. This allowed the project to work as intended and actually be used by a blind person. This milestone, though small, proved to be difficult.
  1. 1
  2. 2

Second Milestone

Sunskar's Second Milestone

In the second Milestone, I had to put everything on the PCB. This made my whole project more mobile. I soldered all the parts on the PCB and created a way to carry around the whole project. 

First Milestone

While I was building, there were many roadblocks. First, the switch would not fit in the breadboard. I solved this issue by filing down the three pins. Another issue was the type of arduino was not correct. The project asks for a Arduino Pro Mini, however I had an Arduino Pro Micro Leonardo. This required me to use different pins, causing alterations in the wiring as well as the code. I learnt what serial() in Arduinos do. I also learnt how to connects flipswitches, as well as, how one pin on the Arduino can cause multiple output. 

The different components I used include the ultrasonic sensor, led, piezo buzzer, flipswitch, and vibration buzzer. The ultrasonic sensors send out an ultrasonic wave which is bounced back by an object. While this is happening, the crystal oscillator keeps time and multiplies the time for the sound to bounce back divided by 2 by speed. In a sense, its echolocation. The switch moves the circuit between the left and the middle pin or the right and middle pin, allowing there to be a choice between two different circuits. The vibration motor works by rotating a mass which is shifting weight in a circle.

My next goal will be to move everything to a PCB board to make it compact on the glove.

In the first milestone, I mapped everything out on a breadboard as well as coded the arduino. I connected all the parts as well as added the ultrasonic sensor as an input and created a way to vary outputs. When the objects get closer the led flashes in sync with either a piezo buzzer or a vibration motor, depending where the switch is flipped. As you get closer the led blinking as well as the other selected response will increase in frequency. 

Simon Says

Sunskar - Simon Says

My starter project was the Simon Says with Arduino Starter Project. This project uses an Arduino to create the classic Simon Says game. There will be an LED that blinks when you press the corresponding button. The pattern builds on each other until you get it wrong or get to ten consecutive correct patterns.

While I was building, the only problem I ran into was a minor one: the buttons were smaller than the one in the diagram. I just adjusted the wires and the circuit to this new button. Though this was a small problem, it taught me how a breadboard works.

I also learned how a potentiometer works and what it does. A potentiometer controls the amount of resistance by changing where the voltage comes into a resistor inside the potentiometer. In this case, it controls the volume in the Piezo buzzer. The Piezo buzzer takes voltage to create pressure waves which creates a buzzing noise. The resistor is necessary for the LED to not burn out. The button connects two different rows when pressed.

My next step would be to start my main project. I will be creating a basic framework for my first milestone.

 

 

Code: https://github.com/sunnyskar/SimonSaysWithArduino/tree/master

SEO

Leave a Comment

Start typing and press Enter to search

Bluestamp Engineering