Description as a Tweet:

Do you know someone who is blind? We can make their lives a little easier. This Hertz Navigator is a stick in essence, but it also gives them a spacial sense of awareness of their surroundings.

Inspiration:

The inspiration was to be able to build a functioning project given the time constraints.

What it does:

It gives a blind person a sense of direction based on the frequency of the sound played by the project.

How we built it:

We built it using Arduino. We used an ultrasonic sensor to get the distance in the direction pointed to. We used a sigmoid mapping to map the distance values to a frequency value. We used a Piezo buzzer to play the sound of the desired frequencies.

Technologies we used:

Arduino

Challenges we ran into:

One of the biggest challenges we faced was the error in the readings of the ultrasonic sensor. Turns out it was not a technical error but a physics error. Since it emits sound waves constantly, moving the sensor messes up with the readings as waves interfere with each other. We added a button so that the sensor only emits one soundwave which minimizes interference error. Diagnosing such an error was a big challenge.

Accomplishments we're proud of:

We're proud that we built something using our hands rather than writing a code.

What we've learned:

Sometimes, things that seem easy are not that easy. While making a hardware project, you encounter errors with physics as well.

What's next:

To use a better distance sensor. To make the box more compact. Adding a headphone jack. To enable continuous distance to sound playing which enables a person to create a rough topography of space in their head.

Built with:

Arduino UNO
Wires
Push button
Distance Sensor (Ultra sonic sensor)
Piezo Buzzer
Wooden Dowels
Tapes
Cardboard
Glue Gun
Resistors

Hertz Navigator