STEM 2 is taught by Dr. Crowthers. The main focus of STEM 2 is to work in a group to create a device that solves any problem. This course was interesting and enjoyable, and my group was able to learn a lot through the assistive technology project! Feel free to learn about my group's (Sasha, Maya, Matt) project!
My group studied the effect of drowning on a person's heart rate, arm acceleration, and depth in the water. We identified various combinations of these three combinations that indicate a person is in trouble. Our goal was for our device to use an accelerometer, heart rate sensor, and altitude sensor to detect these different factors to activate an airbag to aid the person.
When a person is drowning, their body instinctively goes into the “Automatic Drowning Response”, making them unable to manually activate a device to deploy an airbag.
The device consists of eight parts: the Arduino Mega processor, the breadboard, the sensors, the servo motor, the valve, 3D-printed holders, the battery pack, the buttons, and the TFT/LCD. The sensors are integrated into the Arduino processor using multiple pins from the Arduino to the constructed breadboard. It also integrates the Servo motor, buttons, and TFT/LCD. The +6V battery pack powers the Servo motor and LED, and a laptop powers the Arduino processor. The entire device can be powered solely off the battery pack. However, it would be energy inefficient, and the batteries may run out quickly. The code to integrate all the different components was developed in Arduino IDE and uploaded into the processor to start the device. The device itself can read the user’s acceleration, altitude, and heart rate. It determines whether or not the person is drowning by determining whether the values read are abnormal based on the user's usual status. If the Arduino determines that the user is drowning, it will trigger the Servo motor and turn a valve that could be attached to a CO2 canister and inflate an airbag. The device also includes two buttons: an emergency and a reset button. If the emergency button is pressed, the Servo motor will be triggered, opening the valve. If the reset button is pressed, the Servo motor will return to its original position, closing the valve. The TFT/LCD shows the user's average heartbeat, acceleration, and height as the sensors measure them. Next to these values, a trendline shows the previous 100 readings. Indicators of the boolean variables and Servo motor trigger are displayed. These turn red when an indicator of drowning is read from the sensors. Finally, images of a person swimming and a wristband are displayed. When the Servo motor is triggered, the wristband image changes to a panic emoticon to indicate that the user is not in good condition.