Smart Sight … A Vision of Hope
By Hassan Ahmad
Junior Category (Grades 7-8)
Innovation | Engineering and Computer Science
BCVSF Note:
The required ethics forms have been submitted for this project.
I have designed an Engineering Innovation. I have created my innovative model, the Smart Glasses because I believe that this would benefit handicapped people in a life-changing way. In short, I have wired and coded a circuit to sense if you are about to hit an object. The circuit will react by sending a signal to the Buzzer Module. This signal will create a buzz tone that will alert the person when he/she is about to hit an object. The buzzer frequency will gradually increase as it nears the object of detection. Using an Arduino Uno Board, an Ultrasonic Sensor, and a Buzzer, I have created this model to help the visually-impaired with their daily lives.
I did some research and found out that there are a lot of drawbacks to the current technology that blind people are using right now. Some drawbacks that these tools have are that they are easily breakable, unhygienic, and very expensive.
For this reason, I spent some time talking to a partially-blind woman. I asked what she does in her daily life, and what is challenging for her. Things that were challenging for her included dodging sharp corners in walls, moving around railings, and making sure doors were open before walking into them. I noticed one thing in common with all the challenges that she listed. They all required her to dodge, avoid, or go around something. After taking this data, I decided to design a product that would make her life easier.
