Yes Eyecan

Description

It is complicated for people who recently lost sight to reach a destination in an environment they don't know.
To solve this problem, we decided to create an intelligent cane which uses RFID technology.

This project is realized in the framework of International Track of ESME Sudria by Solène, Camille and Basile working with the CRI.

Details

1. Objectives :

Our device is made for people who just lost sight.
This system will teach them to move with a cane in a restrected area so they can be able to easily move in the streets without any help.

2. How does it work :

The cane has to give a vibration signal to the handler when the cane passes above tag on the ground, so in order:

RFID tags will be put on the ground to make a path to follow,
tag reader will detect these tags,
the tag reader will transmit a signal to the micro-controller board (powered by a battery),
then, the signal is transmitted to the motor controller,
and finally, the signal will be turned into a vibration by the vibrating motor and will be detected by the user.

Components

1 × Feather 32u4 Basic Proto Micro-controller board supported by Arduino used to control the motor-controller

1 × Haptic Motor Controller Motor-controller used to control the Vibrating Motor

1 × Vibrating Mini Motor Disc Vibrating motor used to give a signal to the handler

1 × RFID controller breakout board RFID Tag reader taht transmits signals to the Micro-controller board

25 × RFID Sticker RFID Tag that will be put on the ground

Project Logs

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Ultime session : problems solved
Yes Eyecan • 05/19/2017 at 14:51 • 0 comments

At the beginning of the session, we had a few problems to solve :
-the Arduino card was not working when it wasn't connected to a computer : the first problem solved itself.
-the vibration was not powerful enough : we decided to solder 4 vibrating motors together to intensify the vibration.
-we didn't know where to put our components : we designed a 3D box so now we have a safe place for our components.
We did it !
Yes Eyecan • 05/12/2017 at 15:04 • 0 comments

We asked for help and got lead to a website where we found a tutorial that explained how to link the Arduino card to the tag reader.
We understood that we needed to modify the tag reader : we cut the wire that linked IRQ pin to pin 2 and re-wired it to 6. We also soldered he RST pin to pin 7.
The problem of the detection of the tag reader by the code was now solved.
We finally mixed the two codes (the one that activates the vibrating motor and the one that detects the RFID tags). We obviously had to make a few modifications in both of the codes but we managed to make them work together.
When a tag is detected, the motor vibrates !
We did it !
Last session : all went wrong
Yes Eyecan • 05/12/2017 at 12:31 • 0 comments

We tested the code we found on Adafruit on our current "montage" and it didn't work.
This code was activating the vibrating motor when the tag reader detected a tag.
We decided to test an other code to see if the problem was coming from the vibrating motor : it was not. We were relieved to see that the motor was vibrating !
We found out that the problem was in the code itself : the connection mode needed to be in I2C.
But the code still did not work.
Then we tested the operation of the wiring that had been made on the tag reader with a multi-meter but everything was working perfectly.
Still, we decided to use an other tag reader and it wasn't working either.
Conclusion : we can't make this thing work (for now), we are going to struggle for 3 hours to fix it !
Finishing the code
Yes Eyecan • 04/28/2017 at 12:30 • 0 comments

We found a code on Adafruit and we are trying to make it work ; We are on the right way !
The components soldered together
Yes Eyecan • 04/28/2017 at 12:23 • 0 comments

We soldered the vibrating motor to the motor controller board and this one to the tag reader.
Components Update n°1
Yes Eyecan • 04/07/2017 at 14:36 • 0 comments

We finally receive our components !
So, these are the components we can start to work on, considering that all of the things we need haven't arrived yet. So we will focus on coding the arduino card and working on the cane's design.
Our first struggle was to find a battery that would fit our new Arduino card (we didn't receive the exact model we ordered, these are the vagaries of life).
We also received quite a few types of RFID tags, but we'll only work with the large white rectanglar ones (that will be on the floor, waiting to be detected).
How RFID works ?
Yes Eyecan • 04/07/2017 at 13:41 • 0 comments

A little video wich explain how RFID technology and our RFID Shield (the tag reader) work !
Sketch of the Eyecan
Yes Eyecan • 03/24/2017 at 15:13 • 0 comments

We pictured the functioning of our project.