PmWiki | Student / PBNJProjectProposal

Project Proposal Date: March 4, 2008

School Name: TEAMS Academy.

Team Members: Jen Shields, Nikhil Nathwani, Philip Bailey.

Team Advisors: Janna Thomas, Don Rhine, Bill Harmon. (978) 934-4613

Statement of Need: Garrett needs to be able to sense when he is running into a wall.

Background: Our client's name is Garrett.

Description:

Garrett has been disabled from birth and wheelchair bound. He has trouble lifting objects because he lacks strenght in both his arms and legs. Rescently, garrett burst an optical nerve. While this should only be temporary (although it could take years to heal), he is having immense trouble finding his way around at the moment.

Garrett enjoys playing video games of all sorts, playing on the computer, and all sorts of other activities. These have rescently become very difficult because he is blind, and he has trouble lifting video game controllers.

Research Summary:

We have chosen to focus on finding a way for Garrett to sense walls. We have found some similar devices, but very few specifically catered to blind people, and none that would work well for someone who has little use of their hands and wheel chair bound.

What is already on the market for this problem

Terrain sensors (using a computer) - http://www.springerlink.com/content/6004k7x783x4523w/
Types of sensors we could use for sensing walls: IR sensors, Triangulation sensors, Sonar sensors

http://zuff.info/RangeFindersComp_E.html

Important qualities:

Safety! Can not have sharp edges or anything that may harm the client or others.
Price must be under 150 dollars.
Efficiency.
Quality of materials.
Durability.
Time.
Must be usable with wheelchair