Patent Application
20200261302
The present invention relates generally to find a solution that includes the use of a robotic cane which can follow a thermoplastic paving in order for the blind person to walk more freely without dangers, have ability to recognize an obstacle and maneuver around it, ability to monitor health condition of the individual and also APP enable location finder for critical infrastructures and ability to be traced by others. This will also involve finding out which thermoplastic paint color is best to use for such robotic iCane to follow more meticulously the roads and pavements (side-walks) with minimal error.
A system of textured surface on the ground found mainly on sidewalks, stairs, and train station platforms are called tactile paving. They are mainly yellow in color. Tactile paving is used to navigate the blind and visually impaired pedestrians from one place to another. There are many problems with this system, such as the blind person must know where the paving is in order to follow it and also the noise of the cane needs to be audible clearly which might become a problem with the surrounding noise. That is not only the problem but there is a high cost of tactile paving associated with it.
For example in the city of Toronto, Canada, where there are a few tactile paving, the paved area of Toronto is 620,000 m2[2] and if this area were to be tactile paved the total cost would be USD$6,302,000[3] (with the cheapest tactile paving which costs USD$10 per m2) and USD$31,570,000 (with the highest quality tactile paving which costs USD$50 per m2).
Hence, if one uses iCane that can follow a black thermoplastic paint line, the cost of thermoplastic paint through the whole city of Toronto would be USD$167,550. In total if we subtract the cost of the cheap tactile paving from our system there is a USD$6,144,450 save for the government and if we subtract the premium tactile paving from our system there is a USD$31,352,450 save for the government.
The robotic iCane uses eight Infrared sensors connected to Arduino Uno. It also includes an ultrasonic sensor which detects obstacles so that the iCane automatically guides the blind person away from the obstruction by maneuvering itself from the obstruction. There is also medical devices such as heart rate sensor is added, which displays the pulse reading of the visually impaired individual in case if the individual needs medical attention or undergoing some trauma. An android app system is also added to the iCane which will allow the visually impaired individual to be guided to their destination. The iCane app will also show nearby hospitals, restaurants, and schools via voice activation. The iCane will display the current location of the blind individual so their respective family members can track their location and whereabouts, Due to the use of advanced infrared sensors the width of the thermoplastic paint track can be reduced. The robots use sensors like cameras, to observe the world around them and know how to react—just like our eyes (or a visually impaired person would use a cane and their sense of touch) to observe a trail or path in front of you. The robot relies on a sensor that detects infrared (IR) light (which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, just outside the range of visible light that humans can see). The sensor consists of two parts: an IR emitter which sends out IR light, and an IR detector, which detects incoming IR light. When combined, these two parts can be used to detect a nearby bright object, like white paper. The IR emitter sends out IR light, which bounces back off the white paper, and is “seen” by the IR detector. If the surface is too dark, the IR light will be absorbed by the surface instead of bouncing back from it, so the IR detector will not “see” any IR light. This would help the blind person to commute freely from one place to another as the robotic iCane would follow the black line on any surface.
Here, a light colored (white) board was used where different colored track were painted to see which color allowed the robotic iCane most accurately to follow the track. The result observed was color black. This can be applied in real life situations as the sidewalks are colored grey, however the sensors sense grey as the color white causing the robotic iCane to move.
Assemble the robot chassis that consists of one brown plastic flat base, wheels, and two DC motors with screws.
Solder the pinheads to the Infrared Sensor and the Motor Driver for connections.
To calibrate the sensors connect the sensor pins to the Arduino digital ports
Assemble the circuits by connecting the IR sensor and Arduino Uno.
Calibrate the IR sensor by facing down the IR sensor on a blank white piece of paper with black electrical tape in the middle. Within ten seconds move the sensor across the surface slowly allowing each sensor to read the white and black surface showing the results in the serial monitor in the Arduino IDE software, where 1000 being the darkest (black) and 0 being the lightest (white).
Mount the IR sensors on the robot by using nails which fit through the front holes in the chassis. Use a Popsicle stick to attach the sensor to the nails by hot gluing them together. The sensor is placed in such a way that it is 3 mm off the ground for the robot to work properly.
For making the track following robot, take off the connections of the calibration phase. Place the motor driver on top of the Arduino and secure it onto the chassis by using double-sided foam tape. Make the following connections from the infrared sensors to the motor driver:
Connect the Left Motor to the M1 jack and the right motor to M2 jack on the motor driver. Hot glue a wire to one end of a switch and attach it to the +ve M jack of the motor driver. Attach a battery buckle to a 9 v battery, then take the positive end of the battery and hot glue it to the other side of the switch. The negative output from the battery attaches to the GND of the motor driver. Then code the Arduino[1].
Next step is to simulate the alternate to tactile paving on paper. The alternate to tactile paving involves painting guide lines of different colors on side walk which will allow the iCane to follow the desired pathway. Hence we have performed 4 sets of experiment which includes:
For making the ultrasonic sensor secure an Arduino Uno and a breadboard using double-sided tape to the chassis. Make the following connections for the ultrasonic sensor to the Arduino:
Then connect the breadboard, buzzer, and LED:
Board Digital 13
Next step performed was to test the ultrasonic sensor for which make rectangular prisms of different heights ranging from (1″, 2″, 3″, and 4″) and see if the ultrasonic sensor detects it or not. Then make different shapes (triangle, sphere, and cylinder) with the same height that the ultrasonic sensor detected to see whether the shapes have an effect or not.
Then to make the Heart Pulse Rate Sensor the following connections was done with the Arduino Uno, Potentiometer, and LCD
Then testing of the response time taken for the Heart Pulse Rate Sensor was conducted to find out how long it takes for the sensor to get the correct values.
Then to verify whether the Pulse Heart Rate Sensor works, plug in the Arduino (with the code and setup running) into your computer and run the serial monitor and you can see your heart rate (bpm). This proves that your Pulse Heart Rate sensor is working.
Next step performed was coding for the GPS navigation through Android Application.
Then testing for the response time of the App was determined to find the efficiency of the app.
The focus of the present invention to find a way that can eliminate the use of expensive tactile paving and find an alternative cost-effective solutions for blind people to navigate roads. The iCane contains an app which will allow nearby family members to locate their respective visually impaired individual as well as allowing the blind person to navigate key utilities such as hospitals, schools and restaurants. Further additions on the iCane are an ultrasonic sensor alarm, which will allow blind person to know any obstacles on the track and would maneuver the obstacle and also the heart rate sensor, which will monitor the health condition in case of any medical emergency.
One aspect of the invention provides a iCane with robot containing 8 infrared (IR) sensors able to track defined pathways.
A further aspect of the invention provides the iCane to follow any darker color pathways that infrared light can detect.
A further aspect of the invention provides the iCane to assist the visually impaired individuals.
A further aspect of the invention provides the iCane to follow a track width of 15 mm.
A further aspect of the invention provides the iCane to detect any kind of obstructions that is 3 inches or more.
A further aspect of the invention provides the iCane to monitor the heart pulse rate.
A further aspect of the invention provides the iCane to follow a voice activated app.
The forgoing and other aspects of the invention will become more apparent from the following description of specific embodiments thereof and the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example only, the principle of invention. In the drawings:
a shows how the different parts of the robots are attached to the chasis of the robot. The details name of the parts are also mentioned.
The same experiment was done using curved tracks with different colors. Here also the robot followed the black and green color tracks. Hence this conclusively suggests that the replacement of the tactile pavement should be done with black or green color thermoplastic paint on street sidewalks.
The description which follows, and the embodiments describe therein, are provided by way of illustration of an example, or examples, of particular embodiments of the principles of the present invention. These examples are provided for the purpose of explanation, and not limitation, of those principles and of the invention.
The testing apparatus of the invention is shown in
The robot 102 consists of the different parts. The robot has 2 DC motors 123 attached between the chassis 122 and wheels 121 on both sides. The robot consists of power switch 103; jumper wire 118; breadboard 108 & 113; Arduino Uno 107, 110 & 111; Motor Shield 104; 9 V battery 105; heart pulse rate sensor 106; LCD screen 109; ultrasonic sensor 112; 10 K potentiometer 114; buzzer 115; 8 infrared (IR) sensor 116; LED light 117; Screws 119; Popsicle stick 120.
The cane 101 is attached to the robot 102 with screw.
The robot chassis 122, motors 123 and wheels 121 are assembled. Then solder the pinheads to the IR sensor and the motor shield 104.
Calibration of the IR sensors 116 were done by connecting the sensor pins to the Arduino Uno 107 digital ports and uploading the code from the Polulo library [4] to the Arduino:
Then mount the IR sensors 116 on the robot chassis 122 by using screws 119 which fit through the front holes in the chassis. Then Popsicle stick 120 was used to attach the sensor to the nails by hot gluing them together. The sensor were placed about 3 mm off the ground for the robot to work properly.
To make the track following robot, place the motor driver 104 on top of the Arduino Uno 107 and secure it onto the chassis by using double-sided foam tape. Then the following connections from the infrared sensors to the motor driver was done:
Then connect the Left Motor 123 to the M1 jack and the right motor 123 to M2 jack on the motor driver 104. Hot glue a wire to one end of a switch 103 and attach it to the +M jack of the motor driver 104. Attach a battery buckle to a 9 v battery 105, then take the positive end of the battery and hot glue it to the other side of the switch. The negative output from the battery 105 attaches to the GND of the motor driver 104.
Then the next step was to simulate the alternate to tactile paving on paper. The alternate to tactile paving involves painting guide line of different colors on sidewalk which will allow iCane to follow the desired pathway. Hence 4 sets of experiments were performed which includes:
Then to make the ultrasonic sensor 112 secure an Arduino Uno 110 and a breadboard 113 using double-sided tape to the chassis 122. Following connections for the ultrasonic sensor to the Arduino Uno was done:
The following connections were done for the breadboard 113, buzzer 115, and LED light 117:
Next step performed was the testing of the ultrasonic sensor for which rectangular prisms of different heights ranging from (1″, 2″, 3″, and 4″) were made to see if the ultrasonic sensor detects it or not.
Then different shapes (triangle, sphere, and cylinder) were made with the same height that the ultrasonic sensor detected to see whether the shapes have an effect or not.
Then the Heart Pulse Rate Sensor 106 were made by doing the following connections with the Arduino Uno 111, 10 K Potentiometer 114, and LCD 109. Following connections with the Pulse Rate Sensor and Arduino Uno was done:
Then the following connection of the LCD, potentiometer and Arduino Uno were done:
Then testing of the response time taken for the Heart Pulse Rate Sensor was done to find out how long it took for the sensor to get the correct values.
To verify if the Pulse Heart Rate Sensor works, plug in the Arduino (with the code and setup running) into the computer and run the Arduino serial monitor and the heart rate (bpm) graph can be seen. This proves that the Pulse Heart Rate sensor is working.
Next step performed was coding the GPS navigation through Android Application.
Then testing of the response time of the App was done to determine the efficiency of the app.
The working principle of the apparatus generally involves in switching ON the power switch and moving the IR sensor over the black track from left to right and holding the cane on its path. The robot will guide the person automatically along the path and will stop or move away when there is a hazard.
The following specific example demonstrates one embodiment of the present invention, and is provided for the purposes of explanation, and not limitation, of the present invention.
Wherein the parts of the robot were obtained from Amazon India, Arduino Uno from Arduino store, motor shield from Banggood.com, Polulu QTRC 8RC Reflectant IR sensor from Polulu store, 10K potentiometer, ultrasonic senor, buzzer and Heart Pulse rate sensor from Amazon Canada. The batteries were obtained from Energizer. The cane, Popsicle sticks, and double sided tape were obtained from Walmart, Canada.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/485,339 filed on Apr. 13, 2017[5], the entire contents of this is incorporated by reference herein.
