Friday, March 9, 2012

SharkVision - sensing suit for persons who are blind


Using her DIY skills, Hannah Prutchi has invented a new way for persons with visual disabilities to navigate their environment.  Just in 8th Grade, Hannah envisioned a suit, equipped with sensors to create SharkVision:
I developed this idea from the concept that sharks find their prey by sensing disturbances in an electrical field they form around their bodies. This suit simulates the shark’s ability to sense objects around its body, giving a blind person a new type of sense.
Instead of a suit, she found that just having a glove on each hand provided enough feedback for her to navigate blind folded around her house.  The concept is simple, attach an infrared sensor to a vibrating motor.  As you get closer to an object the faster the motor vibrates, simple, but effective.

Having something like this built into a glove or arm sleeve would be a very unobtrusive way to helping persons with visual disabilities navigate the world.  Check out the full article here - SharkVision.



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