_________ APPLICATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS _________
GOALS:
Propose a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered.
Your project should incorporate:
Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the skills, and be independently operable.
Your project should incorporate:
- 2D and 3D design
- additive and subtractive fabrication processes
- electronics design and production
- microcontroller interfacing and programming
- system integration and packaging
Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the skills, and be independently operable.
| What will it do? |
The map will work as a indoor GPS that will help blind people to detect their position inside a building.
This will be done by implementing a tactile feedback (through latching solenoids) and a vibration feedback (through vibration motors).
Each room of the building will be paired with a solenoid and a vibration motor.
The tactile map will also need bluetooth sensors. Each sensors will be installed and paired with a room. The map will detect the nearest beacon paired with its room. This will make switch up the corrispondent room's solenoid and activate the corrispondant vibration motor.
I believe that this method will allow an easier and much faster position recognition for the blind user, compared to a tactile scanning with the hands.
| Who's done what beforehand? |
I researched about tactile maps and found interesting articles describing different designing projects of "tactile maps" like Lighthouse or Acuity.
Especially Interactive audio-tactile maps for visually impaired people, but few of them combined interactive tactile maps with vibration feedbacks for indoor spaces, like museum.
| What will you design? |
- Tactile map 3D design, shape and packaging
- 3D design and 3D printing the supports for the electronics components (PCB, battery, vibration motors, solenoids)
- Electronic design and production.
| What materials and components will be used? |
- For the tactile map I will use playwood, which is a material widely used for architeture modeling. Another possible material for the map could be resin, but it be a much more slower and expensive process. I'm gonna think about it, but the first model, just to make sure that all the electronic componenents correctly work, it would definetely be playwood.
- For the packaging box I think I will use wood.
- For the 3D printed supports PLA
- The ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS that I will use include:
- PCB with Microcontroller ESP32
- Vibration Motors dc
- Latching solenoids
- Powerbank
- Beacons HM-10 Bluetooth radio transmitter
| Where will come from? |
Every electronical and material components will be provided by the FAB lab.
| How much will they cost? |
Exept for the basic electronic components (boards, vibro-motors, battery etc..):
Plywood boards: 15 euros
Beacons HM-10 (Bluetooth radio transmitter) 8.99 euros
At the end, I don't think that the total would be over 70 euros.
| What parts and systems will be made? |
The tactile map structure, packaging box, electronic production and programming
| What processes will be used? |
- 2D Design: for the tactile map.
- 3D Design: for the tactile map and the packaging box.
- 3D Printing: for the support for the electrical components inside the map package.
- Machine-controlled cutting: for creating the map using the laser cutter.
- Electronics Design and Production: for the input and output sensors.
- Embedded programming: for the vibrations motors and the Bluetooth code (In Arduino).
- Input devices: and the beacons.
- Output device: For the vibration and maybe even audio feedback that could be implemented as a support feature.
- Networking & Communication: because the devices (PCB and beacons will communicate with each other).
| What questions need to be answered? |
- What is the maximum distance between the map and the beacon for the bluetooth signal to work?
- I often though about the constrains of the project from a user centered experience and I think that for future implementation of the project, It will be good having a manual tactile input (like buttons on the map) that enable the communication with the Beacons, while in this project the communication starts automatically after entering a room.
- In some cases, could the wall thikness of the building cause interferences with the bluetooth signal?
- How long the battery/powerbank inside the map can last?
- In case of having a real museum map, how can I cover multiple floor? And what about stairs?
| How will it be evaluated? |
First of all, if all the electric components and the bluetooth signal correctly work, it will be a great step forward. Of course with future implementation a user experience evaluation will be also required to effectively prove the utility of the device, especilly if I decided to implement different scales of vibration intensity or even apply the project with a real museum map.
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