In STEM II taught by Dr. Kevin Crowthers, our main focus is the Assistive Technology Project. In this project we form groups to work on a four-month-long project. The project must focus on creating an assistive technology device designed to help individuals with disabilities or specific challenges.
The team that worked with me included Maya Sushkin, Anthony DeRosa, and Matthew Smith.
Humans are inept at searching for and detecting an extremely unlikely event. Brain and motor functions are significantly decreased under high temperatures. Victims of drowning enter what is known as the “Instinctive Drowning Response” which can make both calling for help and searching for visual indications of drowning difficult.
We examined the key indicators of drowning and identified that an elevated heart rate, abnormal motion or acceleration (either high or low), and low altitude are critical traits of a drowning victim. Our goal was to design a device that could detect these symptoms to recognize drowning. Initially, we used an Arduino Uno to integrate the sensors, but due to memory and storage issues, we switched to an Arduino Mega. We assembled a breadboard with all the necessary pinouts for each sensor and eventually added a battery pack to power the device. When certain conditions occur, such as an abnormally high heart rate sustained for thirty seconds, a servo motor is activated to turn a valve, which can be connected to a CO2 cartridge to inflate an airbag. We used CAD and 3D printing to create holders for attaching the servo motor to the valve.