PERKINS VISIT

+ SECONDARY RESEARCH

؜From the Perkins visit we saw how they had some very unique ways of navigation like audio, slanted floors, and special maps. From this we thought that some sort of map that blind people could use would be helpful. We were inspired by Braiile and decided that a good way to try this would be with some sort of dot layout that could change based on the space that you are in.

PROJECT STATEMENT

A device that communicates information about the users environment using air driven bumps that can dynamically change. This allows users with less information in a new place be able to avoid obstacles.

FUNCTIONAL

REQUIREMENTS

؜MUST EXHIBIT "3mm" OF RISE

؜MUST WEIGH LESS THAN "500" GRAMS

؜MUST BE ABLE PRODUCE "20" PSI

ASSISTIVE TECH PRECEDENT

ExplodyPow

Ronald Heisser, Ph.D

BEHAVIORAL PRECEDENT

NaviLens

Javier Pita Lozano

SOFT ROBOTICS PRECEDENT

HASEL actuator board

Students at University of Colorado

PRECEDENTS

SKETCH

EXPLORATION

PROTOTYPE 1

Initial prototype for inflation.

PROTOTYPE 2

Casted mold along with failed mold. It could be successfully inflated but not quite finished, and had no holder. No electronics main issue would have to be manually inflated.

Pic of casted thing and mold mbb

PROTOTYPE 3

The electronics are essentially just a transistor for every valve so we can give each valve 6V.

؜Electronics

؜INSERT FULL BLEED IMAGE OF

FINAL PROTOTYPE HERE

(TAKEN IN CONTEXT OF USE)

USE DIAGRAM

Start

Floorplan

Inflate

MOLD / WIRING DIAGRAM

؜INSERT FULL BLEED IMAGE OF

FINAL PROTOTYPE HERE

(TAKEN ON WHITE BACKDROP IN PHOTOBOOTH)

FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS

Get the center actuators hooked up

Add a larger power supply such that we can power all valves at once

؜Increase size and resolution

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THANK YOU!

PERKINS VISIT

؜While visiting Perkins School for the Blind, we learned that Perkins students had the option of attending music lessons as well as music therapy sessions. While they had examples of tactile music sheets, we wanted to create a different assistive tool for playing music while having sight and/or hearing impairments. We decided on either a tactile metronome or tuner.

CONCEPT STATEMENT

؜This tool assists individuals with visual and hearing impairments in playing music. This device will be either a metronome or a tuner that provides tactile feedback rather than audio or visual feedback.

ASSISTIVE TECH PRECEDENT

Vibrating metronome

Soundbrenner

BEHAVIORAL PRECEDENT

Metronome/Tuner

SOFT ROBOTICS PRECEDENT

Expressive Robot

Cornell University Engineers

PRECEDENTS

FUNCTIONAL

REQUIREMENTS

؜LIGHT WEIGHT AND COMFORTABLE

؜TACTILE INTUITIVE CONTROLS

؜PNUEMATIC OR FLUIDIC

SKETCH

EXPLORATION

PROTOTYPE 1

؜A prototype for a tactile metronome that inflates on the sides of the head with physical controls at the front.

PROTOTYPE 2

؜A test for an inflating bubble that would be used for haptic feedback in either the metronome or the tuner.

PROTOTYPE 3

؜A looks-like prototype of a device that would mount around the neck and work like a metronome.

PROTOTYPE 4

A prototype for the tuner in which a bubble moves from left to right on the back of the neck to indicate the pitch of the instrument being played.

PROTOTYPE 5

A second iteration of Prototype 4.

MOLD MAKING STRATEGY

SEEKING FEEDBACK ON...

؜What advantages do soft robotics have compared to hard robotics that we should consider more?

؜What part of the body would be the most comfortable while playing an instrument? Should the design be very adjustable/customizable/able to be worn anywhere?

؜

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؜Are the controls and tactile feedback intuitive? What sensations would best convey either a beat (metronome) or a frequency (tuner)?

؜TUNER OR METRONOME?

؜Thank You!

During our visit to Perkins, we were given a tour of their museum - a collection of organ models, taxidermied animals, and historical artifacts.

This is an area of vision impairment in education that we hadn't considered before, but found extremely helpful and interesting.

Perkins insight

Visiting Perkins and seeing its approach to understanding animals through taxidermy was something we hadn’t considered. It got us thinking; for sighted people, understanding anatomy and biology can be as simple as visually interpreting diagrams.

However, blind and low-vision communities can’t feel someone’s stomach or lungs in action.

Anatomy without

access

make this into a thesis slide

Precedents

Pumping heart

Prior nuvu project

Lung inflation model

Generic

Schedule patches

Perkins school for the blind

Functional requirements

؜Must have a realistic tactile feel

Functional requirements

؜Must have a realistic tactile feel

Must be at a set scale to a real organ

Functional requirements

؜Must have a realistic tactile feel

Must be at a set scale to a real organ

Must be accurately shaped

Sketches

"There are 300 million alveoli in just this section"

Sketches cont

Alveoli Expansion Lo-Fi

1. ؜Simple manifold translating 1 input in multiple
2. Technical basis for future precedent

bullet points here & on other slides

؜This lofi prototype focused on modeling the scale that these would be at in real life.

This is a model that is created via lasercutting many parts with slots, in this case, out of cardboard and wood, then interlocking them.

Scale model

1. Created to get feedback on the scale of both the organs, but also how many organs
2. Feedback noted we should only focus on the lung and not the alveoli or diaphragm as well to focus on

Lung cast

؜

1. First attempt at casting a hollow lung with silicone in a 3d printed mold
2. Ended up underfilled, although the fundamentals of the methodology would work if the implementation were better.

The basis for the molds that we would end up using later, we kept it extremely simple, but notably, this one lacked ample air ventilation.

Lung cast mold

Alveoli Hi-Fi

1. Molding technique known as "roto-molding" in which you put in enough silicone to spread around the surface and then rotate it
2. Failed, as we used a drill to achieve this in lieu of an electric turntable which experienced voltage drop and stopped working

Talk about how we learned and in thsi one did a sort of silicone based injection molding full page image

Final prototype

Reflection and next steps

PERKINS VISIT

+ SECONDARY RESEARCH

While visiting Perkins School for the Blind, we learned that Perkins students had the option of attending music lessons as well as music therapy sessions. While they had examples of tactile music sheets, we wanted to create a different assistive tool for playing music while having sight and/or hearing impairments.

PROJECT STATEMENT

؜The Tactile Tuner is an assistive device for hearing and visually impaired musicians. Similar to a regular tuner, the device uses tactile feedback instead of visual and audio cues to indicate pitch.

ASSISTIVE TECH PRECEDENT

Vibrating metronome

Soundbrenner

BEHAVIORAL PRECEDENT

Metronome/Tuner

SOFT ROBOTICS PRECEDENT

Expressive Robot

Cornell University Engineers

PRECEDENTS

SKETCH

EXPLORATION

PROTOTYPE 1

؜A prototype for a tactile metronome that inflates on the sides of the head with physical controls at the front.

PROTOTYPE 2

؜A test for an inflating bubble that would be used for haptic feedback in either the metronome or the tuner.

PROTOTYPE 3

؜A looks-like prototype of a device that would mount around the neck and work like a metronome.

PROTOTYPE 4

A prototype for the tuner in which a bubble moves from left to right on the back of the neck to indicate the pitch of the instrument being played.

PROTOTYPE 5

A second iteration of Prototype 4.

1. Neck mounted
2. Inflating bubbles is the best mechanism
3. Tuner is better

؜WHAT WORKED

؜FEATURES

1. Neck mounted device
2. Gives tactile tuning feedback
3. Has casings that act as control centers and weights
4. Uses pneumatic (air powered) bubbles
5. Has tactile controls

FUNCTIONAL

REQUIREMENTS

؜Have enough space to fit electronics, such as pumps and batteries.

؜Must be comfortable to wear.

؜Cannot be too heavy.

SKETCH

EXPLORATION

SKETCH

EXPLORATION

؜INSERT FULL BLEED IMAGE OF

FINAL PROTOTYPE HERE

(TAKEN ON WHITE BACKDROP IN PHOTOBOOTH)

USE DIAGRAM

MOLD DIAGRAM

Silicone Mold

؜Wall

؜

Base

Internal disks

Removable poles

؜WORKS-LIKE MODEL

؜Silicone Actuator

؜Silicone Chassis

Solenoid Valve

Pump

؜INSERT VIDEO HERE

FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS

؜Improving tactile controls

؜Combine works-like and looks-like model

؜Making actually detect pitch

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؜4

؜Get feedback from Perkins, and hearing and visually impaired people.

THANK YOU!

PROJECT STATEMENT

؜This project is a game where players must climb a wall blindfolded. The handholds use soft robotics to direct the user to the next handhold. The players are all blindfolded so that no matter what condition your vision is, you can participate and play the game with no disadvantage if you have limited vision.

PERKINS VISIT

+ SECONDARY RESEARCH

When we went to Perkins, we learned about the different types of sports. Some of these include goalball and track. We wanted to find a way to make climbing more accessible to people who have a vision impairment so that they don't need a caller to help them practise and climb. We also learned about a game called handball, which is a game that is played at Perkins, where the players are all blindfolded and crawl on their hands and knees. The ball has a bell in it so the players can locate it, and there are two goals where the players throw the ball to score points.

؜MUST BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE UP, RIGHT, LEFT, UP-RIGHT, AND UP-LEFT

؜HAVE A SIMPLE BUT REBUST

MECHANICAL DESIGN

MUST BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE THE LOCATION THROUGH DIFFERENT MEDIUMS

FUNCTIONAL

REQUIREMENTS

ASSISTIVE TECH PRECEDENT

TactileGrip

Mihir Sharma

BEHAVIORAL PRECEDENT

Climber guide

SOFT ROBOTICS PRECEDENT

Texture-changing skin

Cornell University engineers

PRECEDENTS

SKETCH

EXPLORATION

PROTOTYPE 1

A low fidelity prototype of a hand hold with two bladders made with balloons. This was one of the first prototypes we made and it shows the basic idea of how this would work.

PROTOTYPE 2

؜In this prototype, we 3D printed the rock mold aand inserteda bballoon intoit. The balloon was inflated to convey the direction of the next hold. This was so we can test how much force the bladders and push with, and how the bladders fit into the handhold.

PROTOTYPE 3

؜This is the valve that is able to redirec the air input into one of the 5 outputs that are connected to the 5 bladders in the hand hold.

diagram of valve

Mold for the valve

This is the mold for the silicone pieces on the valve.

Silicone

Pins

Pins

caps

main mold

USE DIAGRAM

ASSEMBLY DIAGRAM

؜INSERT VIDEO HERE

FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS

؜Make a model with more soft robotic actuators that can communicate 5 directions (up, right, left, up-right, up-left)

Refine the valve system

؜Start thinking through more of the rules and the gamification piece

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THANK YOU!