Inspiration
I believe that technology has the power to solve a great deal of the problems we have in our world. People are being healed and diagnosed quicker due to technology. Technology has empowered me to learn more about the beautiful world I live in and share that with others in the press of a button. I want to be able to help those who are not as fortunate as I am because of something as meager as the circumstances of their birth. As time progresses, advancements in technology will help even more people and I want to do what I can to help accelerate that process. While I don't have the means to instill the gift of sight to those less fortunate, I can make the world a more immersive and true experience for them with my know-how and resources provided by PennApps and the University of Pennsylvania. WalkMate is the result.
The Why, the How, and the What:
Why: To improve the ease of directional navigation for the visually impaired. How: Through a natural feedback system providing tactility. What: A shirt worn that applies pressure to the arms and torso based of proximity of nearby objects.
What It Does
The WalkMate provides a tactile response for the visually impaired to provide them with a better sense of their surroundings. Objects to the right of the user will apply varying pressure to their right arm depending on how close the object is. The same is true for the left arm. For objects in front of the user, a belt's tightness is slightly increased depending on proximity as well. This allows the user to feel when a wall ends and a turn can be made in a building. When walking towards a wall, it allows the user to feel the wall before they possibly walk into it. Nearby people can be felt passing when their arm is gently squeezed.
How I Built It
Ultrasonic sensors are mounted at the torso and arms of the user. Each sensor has a 30 millisecond response time providing quick feedback to the user. Depending on how far away the object a sensor is pointed towards--for example, a wall--the tightness of the servo motors attached to the respective arm or waist will increase the closer you are to the wall in that direction while maintaining comfort.
Challenges I Ran Into:
Designing for a user with specialized and specific needs
Utilizing and adapting to the available hardware and tools
Bugs, bugs, bugs
Accomplishments that I'm Proud Of:
Creating an assistive device with simple, inexpensive materials
Paying it forward by creating a device that makes our world more accessible to people
What I learned
The quality of these assistive devices is directly related to its ability to be accessed by the consumer; often many assistive devices are too costly or too rare to be feasibly accessed by all of the individuals who can benefit from them. By developing WalkMate, I hope to show those with more resources than me that a useful device can be made relatively inexpensively. Whatever influence this may have, I'm sure it will be positive, regardless how limited or small it may be.
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