Wrist-Worn PING Sensor Assists the Blind with Navigation using Haptic Feedback #WearableWednesday
Fantastic evolution of this project by Neil Movva using a perfect purple PCB (image below). The ‘Pathfinder‘ uses a glove- or wrist-worn PING sensor to assist the blind with navigation (watch the video below for an intriguing demo!).
Pathfinder is a wearable device that translates distance into haptic feedback. Users just wear the wristband (or glove) and point at objects up to 500 centimeters away, and feel gentle pulses at their fingertips corresponding to the object’s distance. It’s designed to give the user greater freedom of motion and longer operational range than traditional navigation solutions for the blind, such as the cane. I incorporated research ranging from embedded electronics to the neuroscience of touch to turn this simple concept into the best prototype I could, before sharing the device with my local community center for the blind.
See the full project here at Hackaday.io and hat-tip to Drew Fustini for blogging this at OSH Park blog reminding us about this project.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
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