Sensory Enhancing Visual Device

Inspiration

To assist the physically disabled, specifically with those who are visually impaired or completely blind. This device gives them the vision that they may be missing in their lives.

What it does

1 ) Distance sensing - Ultrasonic sensors attached to the glasses detect the distance from various angles of the position of the user. Once the user has approached too close of a distance, a consistent vibration is sent to the user to indicate their closeness to the incoming obstacle, thus avoiding any physical collision.

2 ) Object recognition - Using a pre-trained library, trained with Google's image recognition software (Tensorflow), the webcam records frames in real time, and identifies various objects in front of the user (person, chair, remote, etc.). These objects are then sent to the user audially for easy identification of surroundings.

How we built it

Electrical signals were attached and facilitated through an Arduino Pro mini. Four Ultrasonic sensors are fit into the "glasses" housing unit, which was 3D printed. A webcam is used to view images in real-time, and is attached to a Raspberry pi 4, where the image identification/recognition system is applied.

Challenges we ran into

The Raspberry pi was a new microcontroller for us that we have never used before, so it took some getting used to.
We had some trouble getting the vibration system to work
Housing complications

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we could get this system working all together. We are specifically proud to have learned everything related to the Raspberry pi and image recognition from scratch, just throughout the duration of this weekend.