Project team: Craig Hiller, Frank Lu, Adithya Murali, Krishna Parashar, Tomás Vega
Course: Interactive Device Design, fall 2015
Aimed at empowering the visually impaired by augmenting their awareness of the environment and facilitating independence, SynthSense is an open-source Augmented White Cane (AWC) that provides both obstacle avoidance and navigation assistance.
To help with obstacle avoidance, the team built a cane with ultrasonic range finders for detecting obstacles within a two-meter range as well as mounts for the sensors that are both direction- and height-adjustable. Feedback from these sensors deliver haptic responses on the handle when obstacles are detected at body or head level.
To provide navigation instructions to users, the SynthSense team developed an iOS app that determines when the user needs to turn. The app transmits a command to the AWC’s strap, providing directional haptic feedback that the user can act on.
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