Team 522’s goal is to improve daily life for the visually impaired. Most depend on family and government support; motivating our mission to aid and expand their independence. Many go through Orientation and Mobility (O&M) training to improve agility and motor skills. They employ navigation techniques in new locations, using their senses and typically a white cane. Various products try helping, but most have limited use and high costs. Our design is compatible with their O&M training while offering various features to further heighten these skills.
Our solution is HapTac, a product that improves on the standard white cane. HapTac includes sensors that find the distance between objects and the user. Vibrations on the handle relay the interpreted data to the user. HapTac includes 3 vibration motors using varying intensities to guarantee the user can interpret their surroundings. HapTac also includes a camera, which turns on to scan and analyze objects. A speaker or earpiece, depending on user preference, relays the name of the object to the user. This allows the user to identify common items at places like the grocery store or in their pantry. HapTac has a database full of diverse reference images. Users may ask Team 522 to add specific objects into the database.
HapTac’s housing attaches onto the top of a white cane as if it were a new handle, thus allowing users to feel the cane’s vibrations. The assembly, including the white cane, is under 3 pounds. This ensures comfort for the user’s wrist and hand. HapTac’s battery is long-lasting and rechargeable; ensuring the user will reach their destination and move around freely. We seek to erase the need for other products, thanks to our competitive price for the market, and HapTac being easy to integrate into daily routines.
By making HapTac attach onto the handle of the white cane, Team 522 seeks to make the device as integrated as possible with Orientation and Mobility Techniques.
By using three ultrasonic sensors, two being angled fifteen degrees left and right from the middle of the housing, HapTac can detect objects above the user's waist before they are xa problem. Haptic motors inform the user of the object's distance from the device, and the user can avoid them accordingly.
Running Alexnet, a convolutional neural network, HapTac can identify any object in its database in fractions of a second. Team 522 will continue to add more items to the database as users request them, making the product improve as time goes on.
Boasting a hefty 5-hour battery life, HapTac can be taken on long trips and reliably help the user.
Team 522 wants to be constantly expanding HapTac's database to ensure user satisfaction when identifying objects.
As an entrepreneurial project, nothing would delight Team 522 more than being able to produce various copies of the design and distributing them to the visually impaired.
David Alicea is a mechanical engineering major from Florida State University. He first enrolled in the university in the fall of 2016 and got into the major because of an interest in automobiles. During his time at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, he specialized in Mechanics and Materials and earned a minor in physics. In his free time David joined the Florida State Rugby Club and is finished his time there as the captain of the team for his last two years.
Nicolas Garcia is a senior in Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on Thermal Fluids. He has been a Teaching Assistance for Introduction to Mechanical Engineering, and has taken his final year as a time to focus on future prospects.
Madison Jaffe is a senior Mechanical Engineering major at Florida State University. She is a long standing member of Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, and The American Society of Engineers (ASME). She is planning on taking her Fundamentals of Engineering exam shortly after graduating and is dedicated to improving the lives of others through her work as an engineer.
Ethan Saffer is a senior Mechanical Engineering student with a focus of Thermal - Fluid Dynamics. He served as the systems and design engineer for his senior design project on visual impairment technology. Ethan is excited to graduate and start a career within the field of renewable and sustainable energy systems.
David Alicea - daa16@my.fsu.edu
Nicolas Garcia - ng16m@my.fsu.edu
Madison Jaffe - msj16d@my.fsu.edu
Ethan Saffer - ers16c@my.fsu.edu