I've seen many ultrasonic sensor-based glasses designed to assist visually impaired individuals, and I want to take this concept further. My plan is to develop a headset-style device (similar to an Oculus) that includes:
3 ultrasonic sensors (for detecting objects in the left, center, and right areas)
Lithium batteries for power
TP4056 battery charger module for recharging
2 speakers to provide audio feedback indicating the presence of obstacles
Arduino Nano
Questions:
Is this setup feasible? Can all these components work together effectively?
Can speech output be added instead of just beeps? (For example, using pre-recorded or generated voice alerts.)
Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
The arduino nano has one 5V pin (the optimum power for an ultrasonic sensor), so you probably need an extra rail (like in a breadboard) to connect all 3 sensors to one pin.
Plus you will also need an amplifier for your speakers if they are passive speakers.
The nano will be giving its output a little slower if all three sensors detect something as it is not very fast.
Based on the power consumption of your components the li-ion will be able to power it for only around 4-5 hrs (if the li-ions are around 2000mAh) and to charge it will probably take around another 2hrs.
Since you are device is of a headset style, space shouldn't be a problem so i would suggest go for a more powerful board like the arduino uno r4 and 3000mAh li-ions
One problem might be that rechargeable lithium batteries provide only around 3.7V but the classic Nano V3 (ATMEGA328) needs 5V supply. Also most ultrasonic sensors need 5V supply.
You could switch to a 3.3V Arduino such as the 3.3V version of Pro Micro or Pro Mini, which can run off 3.7V. You will need to find 3.3V sensors also.
You could use a "2S" 7.4V lithium battery, which are larger and heavier, but make sure your charge module is suitable for that.
You could use a 3.7V to 5V boost converter module.
Whatever type of lithium rechargeable battery you use, make sure it has an over-discharge protection circuit built-in, or, if not, you provide an external one.
I am sorry, I meant an arduino uno r4. It would give the device more processing power. The arduino nano he mentioned has 16mhz processing power while the r4 being more powerful has 48mhz.
The nano will be able to do the tasks but the r4 would just give it a more smoother and faster execution of operations
Thank you for your kind advice, but since Talkie uses Timers 1 and 2, which may conflict with PWM outputs or other libraries. I need an alternative solution because I want the speaker to play different sounds based on which sensor is triggered—for example, if the left sensor is triggered, it should play Audio 1 and vice versa. Is there a way to achieve this without using any other module?
As of current, I have discovered how to put my own custom sounds unto talkie, but my only issue now is how to play different sounds simultaneously based on which sensor is triggered
I am still finding one, I apologize for the misunderstanding. I discovered how to add custom sounds to talkie later after I found out that I could only play one audio at a time. Thats why I'm looking for an alternative.
