Gettin' there, FINALLY

Research

Blindness is an unfortunate disease that plagues living beings all around the globe, restricting one's interaction with the world and handicapping humans into fully integrating themselves in activities we (the sighted) consider mundane.

In looking into the issue, a plan was decided, to build a haptic feedback suit that focused on bringing training into the mix, it was specifically designed to fit young children that looked to train for soccer, blind-soccer is a very different sport to what regular soccer is, there are fewer players, there are side-barriers to avoid tripping, and there are sighted people guiding the player into the action, it's fast-paced, tactical, and it truly shows that non-sighted people have been looking to overcome their condition by keeping themselves active and fit. Since the pandemic wreaked havoc back in 2020 a focus on indoor activities has been on an all-time high, especially for the section of people that are deemed vulnerable to being infected, as the situation continued to develop, an idea arose, what if these children were able to train indoors without a specialized trainer right there with them, but supervised by their parents and/or legal tutors to do the same routines with the same outcome, avoiding injuries for doing these exercises the wrong way. That's what the suit is gunning for, to be an aid to provide a specialized training regime without the need for a specialized trainer at their side.

In truth, there aren't many projects that resemble what the suit aims to do, there are some “similar” devices, but again, nothing specific comes to mind.

There is a haptic feedback glove that was intended for translating the “feel” of theater and choreography to people who can't see such works, that were the idea of vibration as a haptic response came from. Sadly, this device seems to be unavailable for wider use and not in the numbers one would hope for the population that might use them.

There is device that uses haptic feedback , acting as a bealt to be worn and complimented with a webcam that captures the environment around the user and sends signals that vary depending on the distance of the object, it is quite interesting, but also a bit complex, meaning a everyday user won't be able to operate the system without extensive training, and there's the fact that this is not easy to build, and the blueprints aren't really available for a full build.

Sketching

After determining that a suit was the most complete version of the previously explored ideas, the sketch had to be made, and it was determined that a accelerometer & gyroscopic sensor with a vibration feedback was the most logical way of approaching the problem, all contained in a 3D printed box that was to be attached to the wearer's body, with two “boxes” for each limb , the number of sensors would be eight, adding up an additional “belt” that would be worn at the abdomen for carrying the battery that is to power up the entire ensemble.

Designing

Using the sketch and with some help from mocap suit examples on the internet the design was made in a realistic but simple manner that allowed for easy wear and easy access to the components.

Materials

Thankfully there was no shortage of whatever it was needed to manufacture the circuitry and develop the suit, also, the university was kind enough to lend us the equipment required and some of the elements from the list below, that is why some of the components ended up being cost-free.

Building & Assembly

Manufacturing the PCBs was something that proved to be difficult, the complexity of the components that are contained within the circuitry made it so that a single layer copper PCB cannot be made in the time frame that was agreed upon, so these plates had to be ordered, happily the output PCB that contained an additional buzzer was made in the facilities and used the granted equipment. Once the PCBs were on the table, the components were soldered and the boot up was tested.

Coding

Coding was not an easy feat, but it was something that eventually was done, many iterations of the code appeared, but the ones that were used in the end proved that the PCB could receive outside data (accelerator & gyroscope), upload it to a website where the data was updated (line graphs), and then a buzzer in another PCB would go off whenever the conditions of the code were met.

Testing

After all the previous processes were done it was time for testing, the routines were loaded up, the first one was a test of the Input PCB to see if it gathered the data and showed it on screen.

Then the output PCB was brought into the mix accompanied by the website with its interface, everything was linked up and the testing was done.

What tasks have been completed?

Almost every task has been completed as of the date this site is being written, the PCB has been manufactured, the codes have been written, the tests have been verified, the suit has been built, and the evidence is there.

What tasks remain?

The thing that remains is the documentation, to gather all the information that has been recorded and kept throughout some of the assignment weeks and upload everything into the final project page, although it might seem easy, it's incredibly tedious, as there's a lot of information to go through and a presentation to prepare. But it's completely possible to achieve completion before the due date for revision comes.

What has worked? What hasn't?

The thing that has worked the easiest was the soldering, almost all the circuitry that was done booted up and showed no signs of short circuiting or power fluctuations at the first attempt, sure, some of them needed to be corrected but nothing out of the ordinary. The thing that stalled the project's progress the most was the PCB elaboration itself, using the CNC Miller machine for carving the second circuit board derived from copper felt like an eternity, the machine was constantly malfunctioning, badly calibrated or just outline broken. The coding wasn't child's play either, the thing that needed some work was the networking part, especially the link between the hosted website and the Input PCB, it was resolved after a few sleepless nights so that's that. There were also some power management issues, a strong, durable battery was needed in order to power the suit, the battery that was initially installed wasn't enough for all the different sensors, it was quickly draining under the strain of the power output, so the simplest solution was to power up certain sections of the suit as to test if the components were really working and the objective of the project was valid, it was, then, the suit was powered up fully, but the battery only lasted for about 5 minutes, fortunately it was enough to get some information for the initial graphs that were shown in the website's dashboard.

What questions need to be resolved?

• When is the documentation going to be finished? As that's the only remaining issue it really is the only thing left unanswered, until now. The documentation will HOPEFULLY be completed (or at least in its majority) by the end of this week (as the date of this assignment's update), so fingers crossed.

What will happen when?

This week is highly important, as there are not many days separating it from the final deadline, as I'm trying to juggle a full-time job and these documentation issues I will try to squeeze out as much time as I can to complete the remaining tasks.

What have you learned?

The thing that I learned the most is time management, I've always been proud of managing my time in a proper fashion, planning out my week ahead of time so I always have some to spare in case of an impending issue or for some relaxation but I gotta be honest, I've never felt the pressure of time more that while working on this final project, I even resorted to getting an extension for December as to have months to plan my moves, I couldn't go all willy-nilly and try to do the tasks as they were presenting themselves, everything had to be planned and everything needed to be completed under a strict time frame, these months haven't been easy, I broke my arm THE day the course started back in January, and I couldn't properly recover until late May to early June, then I finished college and went through a transition period that saw me moving out and getting a job somewhere else, so things have been interesting to say the least, but a commitment's a commitment, and this is one commitment I'm going to keep. So again, fingers crossed and hoping for the best to finish on time.

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