The Bat Hat
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Date
2016
Authors
Zaid Abusair
Abdullah Salahat
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Abstract
Abstract For this final project, an ultrasonic range-finding hat that uses haptic feedback to alert its wearer about obstacles in his or her path will be designed and implemented. The hat is equipped with an ultrasonic transmitter/receiver circuit, which is capable of emitting short pulses of ultrasonic-frequency (approximately 40 kHz) sound, at a level of about 120 db. These pulses then echo off the closest object in the line of sight of the hat and are picked up by the receiver. The time delay between sending the initial pulse and receiving the echo gives a sense of how far away the obstacle is from the ultrasonic sensor, which can be conveyed to the person by vibrating the hat at a level proportional to that distance. This allows the person to understand what obstacles are in his or her path and to respond accordingly. Specifically, this project is intended as a proof-of-concept/prototype for a product that would ultimately be used by sight-impaired individuals to detect walls or other obstructions, reducing their dependency on canes. This device will use ultrasonic range finders and haptic feedback to improve indoor navigation for the visually impaired people and to help people seeing at night. The technique depends on using acoustic signals, such as sounds from the natural environment or sounds made artificially, to determine an individual's surrounding physical space for the purpose of navigation. This device will be a clever implementation of using this technique that uses inaudible frequencies which simulate using a cane to feel the obstacles. In addition to that, this device works in noisy environment where it is typically difficult to sense acoustic signals. The Bat Hat will consist of two main parts, the first one is the well-designed head mounted navigation that will consist of three ultrasonic range finders and three vibrating motors to help the user to turn either left or right depending on the presence of obstacles in the field range of the ultrasonic sensors, while the other ingenious part will be the wearable tactile which will consist of one ultrasonic range finder and one motor that simulates the traditional cane to scan the obstacles not detectable by the mounted navigation . Mainly, this technology aims to provide a better life to people by either increasing the awareness of people about the objects that surround them in the absence of light or by enabling people who have visual or auditory impairments to live independently without needing any help from any one.
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