This is an ongoing project at Sookmyung Women's University. This project is seeking to find new ways to help the "Visual Impair" walk freely without the use of the stick. Now, the question to ask is "how do we make this happen?", "Is it even possible for the Visual Impair to walk on our streets freely without to fear of bumping into an obstacle or involving in an accident?".
Well at this point, I hope your guess is as right as mine. It is possible with the recent increase in technology and building of Artificial Intelligent Systems(AI) which is popularly known as Smart systems, I believe it is possible.
Basically, we know that AI uses three functionalities which are the Sensor, the Actuator andthe Control(this is the knowledge-based or rule-based system). At this stage of the project, we will focus on the sensor. So what then is a Sensor?
A Sensor is a technological device that is made to detect and receive inputs from the physical environment, converting the inputs into signals for easy detection. There are various kinds of sensors such as location sensors(GSP) for tracking devices, light sensors for detecting lights, temperature sensors for detecting temperature etc. Apart from all these sensors, there is one sensor which is very crucial to our project and that is the PROXIMITYsensor.
Why proximity sensor?
Proximity sensor is a device that is able to detect objects from far and near distance depending on the technology used in building it. Furthermore, to sense at a distance, it often emit radiation, light or sound looking for changes that occur in the electromagnetic field to return a signal. Nevertheless, there are various types of proximity sensors. We have the Inductive proximity sensor which targets ferrous metal objects, the Capacitive proximity sensor which targets plastics and metals and most importantly, the general purpose Infrared(IR) proximity sensor which is used for detecting any object.
For the sake of this project, we are using the GP2y0A21yK Infrared Proximity Sensor. This detects object between 10cm to 80cm. It has two tiny bulbs; an LED which measures the intensity of light and a photo-transistor which sends the signals.
Images
IR proximity sensor
The setup for proximity sensor and an LED on the Arduino board
Please watch a demo on how proximity sensor works with an LED
The codes to use
// codes Analog input
.int led0 = 3;
//declare a variable called variableResistor and assign it to analog input A0.
int variableResistor = A0;
//declare a variable called analogValue to hold the data from the variableResistor. int analogValue; // SETUP ROUTINE //The setup runs once on startup or reset.
void setup() {
//initialize the serial connection //syntax //Serial.begin(baud rate)
Serial.begin(9600); }
//MAIN LOOP //this will run forever as long as the arduino has power.
void loop() {
//Read the specified pin. //Assign to the variable, the reading from the analog input pin. //syntax //variableName = digitalRead(analog pin);
analogValue = analogRead(variableResistor);
//map the values from 0 - 1024 to 0-255
analogValue = map(analogValue, 0, 1023, 0, 255);
//assign a level to the brightness of the led. //Use the variable analogValue for the level of brightness. //syntax //analogWrite(variableName, value); analogWrite(led0, analogValue); //Send a label for the data with no carridge return. //syntax //Serial.print(data);
Serial.print("analogValue = " );
//Send the data with a carridge return. //syntax //Serial.print(data); Serial.println(analogValue); //delay for 5ms to allow the chip to maintain continuity
delay(5); }
Please keep reading for updates on the Proximity sensor and an Alarm/Vibrating/Voice system. This is the main focus in this project. We are trying to found out how we can use Arduino, Proximity sensor and one of the sound devices to alert the Visual Impair that there is danger ahead of him/her.
Please do well to share this post with others and send me your comments and contributions so that we can make our world a better place to live. Also on this Blog are:
I believe with the start of these projects, most of you who are new to this technology are probably thinking " what at all is this Arduino about and what can be achieved from using it?". Guess what, your thinking is not wrong at all and it is time you take a glass of water and read this post to the fullest.
Arduino is simply a tool or a single- board micro-control designed to make computers sense and interact with the physical world. It is an open- source program that consists of both the hardware(the board) and the software(Integrated Development Environment) for programming the board.
Arduino can be used for variety of things that will blow your mind.It can be used to develop interactive objects such as blinking an LED,it can be used to control sensors, switches and other objects by taking input from them and using it to control other devices such as motors, lights etc.It has the ability to transcend through communication devices.
The programming language for Arduino is based on Processing Multimedia Programming Environment.
Reasons for using Arduino
Arduino is inexpensive- compared to other micro-controllers,Arduino board is very much cheaper and can cost as low as $30 depending on the type of board you prefer.
Arduino is cross-platform- this means that it can be used on any operating system platform.Examples Windows, Mac OS, Linux etc.
Arduino is an open source program- this means that anyone can freely download and use it as well as help to even improve it.
Unzip the file to a portal location like your local drive or program files.
Insert the Arduino board and wait for the driver software to detect.In windows, the installation will fail so go to your device manager and look for new hardware Arduino. Right click on it and choose update driver software. Select choose from a list of driver software and browse to the location where you unzip the file and select driver in the Arduino folder.
The driver software will be updated and the board will be detected.
Now open the unzipped folder and double click on the arduino.exe. Arduino IDE will launch and you can start programming with Arduino.
Please check out for more updates soon on video tutorial for the installation and be sure to send me your comments.
A Switch can be any device that has two state 0 or 1 (on/off). This can be use to break and make connection in an electric circuit.It comes in different forms and the one you are seeing on this page is just a type of switch. Henceforth, for the purpose of this project, any switch at can be used.
Remember that a switch may directly be manipulated by a person as a control signal to an electric circuit or a system.
Setting Up the Switch on the Arduino board
Components
1 Arduino
1 LED
1 220 ohm resistor for the LED
1 10K ohm resistor for the LED
2 data wires
Images
Codes for programming the Switch
Hi Everybody, my name is Elizabeth Yeboah and this is project 3. Copy and paste this code in your sketch whiles following the video tutorial for the setup.
// The switch codes
int led = 13; // my LED is connected to pin 13 int switchPin = 2; // my switch is connected to pin 2 int switchState = 0; // initialize the variable as 0 void setup() { // Tell the arduino that pin 13 is to be treated as an OUTPUT
pinMode(led, OUTPUT); //command(variable,mode);
pinMode(switchPin, INPUT); // Tell the arduino that pin 2 is to be treated as an INPUT
}
void loop() {
// set the variable to the value of the pin. This determines if the switch is on or off. //syntax //variableName = digitalRead(pin); switchState = digitalRead(switchPin); // Use an if statement to take an action. We compare the variable with the value of the switchPin.
if(switchState == 1){
//if the switch is ON
//turn the led ON using digitalWrite() by setting the mode to HIGH. This sends 5 volts out of the assigned pin
//digitalWrite(variableName, MODE);
digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
// if the switch is not on, then do the following action
}
else{
//turn the led OFF using digitalWrite() by setting the mode to LOW. This stops the 5 volts on the assigned pin
digitalWrite(led, LOW);
}
}
Watch the Switch Video
Please if this tutorial was helpful, send me your comments. Thanks
Potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor which is used to control electrical devices as well as measure the potential(voltage) of a particular electric device.
So in this project, the potentiometer is been used to regulate the amount of current or voltage that the LED can receive in order to light. In our codes, we declared the map function to a range to which the potentiometer can lie within.
Setting Up the Potentiometer
Components
1 Arduino
1 LED
1 220 ohm resistor (red red brown)
1 10K ohm potentiometer
2 data wires
Always note that the red wire is for power , the black for ground and the white or yellow for data/signal.
Images
Setup for Potentiometer and LED
The Codes to use on your Arduino IDE
Hi Everybody, this is Elizabeth Yeboah and this is project 2. Copy and paste this code in your sketch whiles following the video tutorial for the setup. // Using the Potentiometer codes
/*analogRead()
This is an example of analogRead(). analogRead() listens for a range of voltages (5v - 0v) on an assigned analog port.
This code outputs the data to an led and affects the LEDs brightness using analogWrite().
syntax
analogRead(analog pin);
*/
//DECLARE YOUR VARIABLES AND PIN NAMES
//Assign a variable name to a pin number.
//Assign the variable name led0 to analog/digital pin 3
//syntax:
//datatype variableName = value;
int led0 = 3;
int variableResistor = A0; //declare a variable called variableResistor and assign it to analog input A0.
int analogValue; //declare a variable called analogValue to hold the data from the variableResistor.
// SETUP ROUTINE
//The setup runs once on startup or reset.
void setup() {
//initialize the serial connection
//syntax
//Serial.begin(baud rate)
Serial.begin(9600);
}
//MAIN LOOP
//this will run forever as long as the arduino has power.
void loop() {
//Read the specified pin.
//Assign to the variable, the reading from the analog input pin.
//syntax
//variableName = digitalRead(analog pin);
analogValue = analogRead(variableResistor);
analogValue = map(analogValue, 0, 1023, 0, 255); //map the values from 0 - 1024 to 0-255
//assign a level to the brightness of the led.
//Use the variable analogValue for the level of brightness.
//syntax
//analogWrite(variableName, value);
analogWrite(led0, analogValue);
//Send a label for the data with no carridge return.
//syntax
//Serial.print(data);
Serial.print("analogValue = " );
//Send the data with a carridge return.
//syntax
//Serial.print(data);
Serial.println(analogValue);
delay(5); //delay for 5ms to allow the chip to maintain continuity
}
Watch a Potentiometer Video
Please if this tutorial was helpful send me your comments. Thanks
