stem 2

problem statement Much of the outside world contains visual information conveyed through text. Advertisements, signs, menus, etc., often don’t have a Braille translation, which leaves Visually Impaired People reliant on audio or sighted people to assist them. According to a qualitative study by BMC Public Health, participants with vision loss expressed that their disability “impacted all aspects of daily life”, and those who acquired vision loss later in life found that they struggled to adjust to the obstacles of being visually impaired (Stevelink, 2015). Our world still has a long way to go in creating environments that are accessible to everyone, which contributes to the negative sentiment the Visually Impaired group shared. Creating an assistive device for the Visually Impaired to overcome the obstacles of navigating a world designed for sighted persons would help facilitate a VIP’s daily life and ease the unfavorable sentiment the VIP group expressed.

design approach A potential design concept employs electromechanical refreshable Braille modules. The key component of this design is a cam actuator, which consists of an eccentric cam with a magnet embedded in it. This complex is rotated to two stable positions by an electromagnetic that changes its polarity. The rotation of the cam causes a Braille dot to be lifted or taken down. Aside from the representation of the Braille characters, the other mechanical and electrical components of this device will remain the same as the previous two concepts: The frame of this device will be designed in SolidWorks and Onshape CAD and 3D printed using a 3D printer. All electrical design will be constructed using a PCB board and an Arduino circuit. TTS will be implemented using speech application program interface (SAPI) the given text is converted into audio. Batteries will be added to ensure the device can sustain power whilst being portable.

prototype Our chosen design will follow design 3, featuring the electromechanical refreshable braille. The entire design consists of a main computing microcontroller, the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3, a main PCB board from the design housing all the braille cells, and separate PCB boards for each of the braille cells. Furthermore, there is a camera with autofocusing capabilities, the Adafruit OV5640 Camera, which will be connected to the ESP32-S3 microcontroller. Future directions include completing device assembly, thorough testing, and issue resolution. The focus is on assembling parts, refining code, and integrating software components. The device will be finalized, with bugs fixed, and the software will be loaded onto the microcontroller. Remaining issues will be addressed, preparations will be made for the upcoming fair, and optional enhancements like object detection considered. Finally, the device will be wrapped up for presentation at the fair with documentation completion.