STEM II Page

Class Description

STEM II is taught by Dr. Crowthers. It is the second portion of the overall STEM class. In STEM II, we choose a group to work on a four month long project with. The project must be an assistive technology device that can aid a user with a disability or struggle.

An Assistive Device to Detect and Aid Drowning Victims

Overview

For our project, we developed a device that integrated three different sensors to detect whether or not the user is drowning. The device's goal was to be able to automatically release air from a CO2 cartridge to lift the user to the surface to aid them.

The Team:

Maya Sushkin - CEO

Sasha Nandyala - CTO

Anthony DeRosa - CMO

Matthew Smith - CIO

Problem Statement

When an individual is drowning, they go into what is called, "automatic drowning response" in which they may not have control over their limbs in their state of panic. However, devices that exist on the market to aid when drowning all require user activation.

Solution

Develop an assistive device that will aid in drowning response.

Design Approach

We studied the key aspects of drowning and determined that an elevated heart rate, elevated or low motion/acceleration, and low altitude were determining traits of a drowning victim. We wanted our device to recognize these symptoms to detect drowning.

Build

We started with using an Arduino Uno to integrate the sensors, but issues with memory and storage arised, so we switched to an Arduino Mega. We constructed a breadboard containing all the necessary pinouts for each sensor, and eventually added a battery pack to power the device. When specific conditions occur such as an abnormally high heart rate for thirty seconds, a servo motor is activated to turn a valve that could be attached to a CO2 cartridge and inflate an airbag. Holders to attach the servo motor to the valve were created using CAD and 3D printing.

STEM II