note-this is still very much a work in progress, build at your own risk, I am unfortunately not able to help with debugging

Inspiration

In talking with people who use wheel chairs on campus, the steepness of slopes was a big issue. Also people are sometimes concerned with the quality of the surface (how bumpy it is). They currently don't have a mapping app option that is easy and reliable. Google maps has biking directions and walking directions so why can't wheel chair users have their directions?!

What it does

My system can drive around and collect slope data at regular intervals. It can then store that data on an SD card. Hopefully it will be able to tag that data with GPS coordinates.

How I built it

I used these parts (and perhaps a few others):

Adafruit Data Logging Shield (but any SD shield will do if not needing the real time clock)
NEO-6M-0-001 GPS module
MPU6050 Inertial Measurement Unit
Arduino Mega2650
Parts from a UNIROI Smart Robot Car Kit
Female Stacking Headers two 6 pin and two 8 pins
Custom CAD design to mount GPS and IMU (hopefully uploaded to git soon)
M3 screws to mount IMU (8mm and 20 mm, I think)
male to female jumper wires

Coding was done in C using VScode as the IDE and the platformIO plugin to compile, upload and debug.

Challenges I ran into

VScode is not the same as Arduino's IDE. You have to #include the Arduino.h library. In addition, either the function itself or a prototype needs to be declared before the function itself is called.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Learning git and some cool details about Inertial Measurement Units (IMU)

What I learned

I learned the basics of git, that things aren't as simple as they seem, some quirks about VScode.

What's next for Mobile sensor platform to detect accessibility obstacles

Many things!

Build an elevator operational status sensor that is low power and can connect to the car acting as a base station
Develop an automatic door operational status sensor. Very open to ideas here! For instance, the car could sit outside the door and simply ask people if its working with a voice or a screen
Path width sensor (narrow paths or tight corners are not good)
Perfect the GPS data saving (how to handle no fix or poor fix)
Machine vision for autonomous operation and other object recognition (fallen branches or non-covered entrances to buildings for instance)
Sensor to detect issues with path (snow, ice, puddles, mud, gravel, cracked pavement)
Wireless mesh networking to send data back to an internet gateway in close to real time
Add a power subsystem (battery management system, solar charging, battery heater, etc)
Consider adding Mecanum Wheels learned about at hack overflow