Navigation Essential Watch (NEW)

NEW Right Side View
NEW Bird's Eye View
NEW in Progress
NEW Left Side View
NEW Front View

Inspiration

Our inspiration came from brainstorming about inventions that are not yet available to the disabled, and how we could help them. Other friends that mentioned how they know seniors who have trouble with using technology and conducting everyday tasks. This brought about thought on how seniors are sometimes excluded from consideration when new inventions or technologies are created, so we wanted to create a project that could help seniors, specifically blinded seniors, to aid them in their everyday life with simple designs. To assist those with vision impairment, we wanted to create something that can alert them through the use of other senses, specifically sound. If they are in danger, then the device would also alert those around them through the use of sound and text.

What it does

The Navigation Essential Watch ha 3 main functions. Firstly, it detects if a disabled or blind person's path has become too close to a nearby obstacle with an ultrasonic sensor, which alerts the user through a buzzer. Secondly, the N.E.W has a heart rate pulse detector which displays the heart rate of the user on a digital display. Thirdly, the N.E.W has a display screen which shows the user's emergency contact information, but only when they are immobilized (fallen over). That contact information is only displayed when the watch detects that the user is demobilized through the use of a breaker sensor.

How we built it

The whole system was made in Arduino components, owned by one of the teammates. We went to buy external sensors and then put together a full functioning system that is comprised of two Arduinos: one responsible for the display, motion detection, distance detection, and one responsible for the heart rate tracking and display.

Challenges we ran into

One significant challenge was that we were unable to acquire the components we wanted, since the electronics store that had the necessary components was closed. As such, we used Arduinos, which limited our possibilities. Additionally, it was challenging to get the wiring of the entire circuit correct. Since our device is a prototype, the wires do not remain stable in the circuit and would fall out easily. That could be an area of improvement in the future. Another challenge was that the wires connected to the heart rate pulse sensor broke as we were wiring everything together. Fortunately, the sensor was functioning properly before it was broken, but it was still difficult to find a remedy for that.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are certainly proud of the prototype we built as it encapsulates all the functioning features that we envisioned. We are proud that we were able to use most of the external sensors we purchased, and for some of our teammates, it was their first time working with Arduino, which is a significant accomplishment for them to learn this new programming and prototyping skill.

What we learned

We learned that we should be a bit more prepared before the hackathon in terms of acquiring materials so we don't have to spend valuable working time on buying parts or sensors. In terms of the project, we learned how to use sensors and create program with Arduinos, and also learned how to trouble shoot errors consistently since we ran into errors both in our program or in our wiring, hence it was a valuable learning experience for all teammates

What's next for Navigation Essential Watch

We believe the next stage would certainly be moving away from prototyping and trying to make the entire system more compact and wearable. This includes perhaps improving the circuit structure of the watch for simplification purposes. We could also consider adding more functionality to the watch to make it more user friendly, adding wireless connections, location tracking for safety, maybe even car and human detection. These are all possible extensions to the N.E.W.