Date of Award
2020
First Advisor
Aaron Williams
Second Advisor
Harold Hastings
Abstract
Wearable technology holds demonstrated promise for improving the lives of people with a variety of disabilities. Here we present a wearable technology device that helps improve the mobility of visually impaired people by helping them navigate around obstacles in their paths. The device was designed with portability and affordability in mind, and the apparatus consists of a proximity sensor attached to an Arduino uno micro controller and a vibrator to alert users when they approach an obstacle. For the proximity sensor, an infrared sensor was chosen instead of an ultrasonic sensor, as infrared sensors outperform ultrasonic sensors with regards to the detection of solid objects. The device's portability and simplicity affords users a great degree of flexibility with regards to the device's potential applications, some of which we demonstrate in this work. We also consider an extension of this device that can also be used to assess depth, which would aid users in navigating paths involving movement along and around surfaces with inclines, such as stairs, ramps, and holes, as well as an extension using visual image processing to aid in interpreting useful visual stimuli.
Recommended Citation
Muhammad, Fa'izah, "A Simple, Low-Cost Proximity Sensor to Improve Mobility For Visually Impaired People" (2020). Senior Theses. 1533.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/sr-theses/1533
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Comments
Ask at the Alumni Library circulation desk for the companion piece that accompanies this thesis.