PROJECTS FOR SOCIAL IMPACT

Wheelchair - Assistive Living

Project Introduction

Motor disabilities of people resulted due to diseases like the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) have a dramatic effect on their quality of living. For years, the severely disabled have learned to cope with their restricted autonomy which eventually affect their daily quality of living like moving around or turning on the lights or TV and ability for social interaction. The primary goal of this project is to build an advanced human-machine interface for assistive living that will provide the user with more capabilities in comparison with conventional tools in the market. For this reason, it is a necessity to build custom and hack existing hardware and software. The main tools used for user input are : eye-tracking from SMI (http://eyetracking-glasses.com) and the Permobil C500 VS wheelchair. The project comprises of three phases:

Phase 1: Natural Navigation – Design, implement, verify, and evaluate an interface to control the wheelchair using eye gaze that will help the disabled move around freely. The user uses an eye tracking device to capture eyes movements in order to control the wheelchair such as moving forward, backward, right, left, and stop. The eye movement can help the user to select a command whereby the eye blink executes an action (which is equivalent to mouse click in standard human computer interaction).

Phase 2: Communication – Design, implement, verify, and evaluate a technology for communicating verbally with ambient environment and for controlling standard computer applications such as web browser or text editing applications. In this phase, the user should be able to surf the Internet using specially designed web browsers. Furthermore, the user should be able to use web mail systems to read and reply to emails. Finally, the user may use text editors to manage text documents such as reading, editing, and saving.

Phase 3: Ambient Intelligence Control – Design, implement, verify, and evaluate an ambient intelligent system (AmI system) to enable the user control the ambient environment such as turning on/off the lights and the TV, opening/closing a window or a door, etc.

Braille Communication System

Project Introduction

In this work, we introduce KeyBraille, a device that is a Braille keyboard that allows for reading and writing using haptic technology and serves as an add-on to any android smartphone. The KeyBraille device contains a 3 by 2 grid, which represents all the possible inputs for the Braille code. The case has six push buttons which serve to input information for each of the six possible Braille dots, and six vibrotactile motors that have a dual function for reading and for tactile feedback when the user is writing.

Figure 1. Simplified representation of the circuitry for the output (left) and input (right) of the system.

The case was 3D printed in two instances, which allowed us to fit the circuitry inside of the device and then clasp the external face of the case in order to protect the delicate parts.
The outer shell clasps onto the inner shell mechanically and integrates screws in order for all the components to be fixed in position. The damping material, felt, is used around the vibrotactile motors to ensure fidelity in transmission of the vibrations.

Figure 2. 3-D design of the inner (left) and the outer (right) shell of the case.

The user grasps the phone and case as shown in the graphic below; with the index, middle and ring fingers of each hand resting on each of the six vibromotors and pushbuttons. The thumbs are placed on the sides, each controlling either the On/Off button or the Read/Write button. The little fingers of each hand are placed on the lower side of the phone and case, so as to prevent it from slipping from the user’s hands.

Figure 3. KeyBraille concept (left) and prototype (right).

Skydiving with Disability

Project Introduction

The aim of this project is to design a device to assist a paralyzed Skydiver. The Skydiver wishes to be able to bend his knees or straighten them based on his need. The skydiver currently uses a fiberglass device that holds his legs bent while jumping as shown in the pictures below. The chosen concept will be similar to the device in the pictures above in shape, however the skydiver will be able to control the angle using a simple switch. The device will have two angle positions, one at 180° and one at 90°. This moving capability of the device will be facilitated by a rotor motor with a designed gear assembly. Once the desired position is reached, there are whisker switches that break the circuit. For safety reasons, there are also physical stoppers on the device to stop at the wanted angles in case the circuit malfunctions. The following first prototype was built to test this concept and make sure that it meets the Skydiver’s requirements. From there the design will be optimized by first printing a full 3D model and testing it before the final stage of casting a fiber glass or carbon fiber mold of the Skydivers legs.