I am about to start my final year university project in product design and I have to design a product (could be innovative, creative or just improve an existing product)
my product idea is to design a better product for the visually impaired individuals. So far, they are using blind canes and guide dogs which arent the best solutions.
I am thinking of designing a wristband (more like a fitbit) with ultrasonic sensors embedded. I would like to know if ultrasonic sensors and gimbal sensor (for statibility) would be a good idea
And any other solutions/tips/advice will be very helpful
Gimbal sensor? Do you mean gyro or IMU? And by stability do you mean actually having an
actuator to orient the ultrasonic transducer?
My immediate thought is that the wrist isn't a great place for a spatial awareness sensor, since
hands move around all the time. Perhaps a forehead or chest-mounted sensor array would be
more usable?
Ultrasound and guide-dogs might be incompatible, you would need to check on canine
range of hearing and whether it goes up to 38kHz or so.
I was thinking of mounting the ultrasonic sensor for stabilization.. I am not sure whats the best stabilization sensor can be. By stability I mean, that for example, if its a wristband and the ultrasonic sensor is facing one direction (the true direction) and the user twist his/her wrist, the ultrasonic sensor should remain that the true dircetion even though the wrist had twisted.
or some other way
again, the forehead and chest-mounted sensor array is an excellent idea, if its forehead can the sensor detect something like stairs? as stairs are difficult for the blind.
What would be the best stabilizing sensor for the ultrasonic sensor