Technabob » disability

DIY Tacit Haptic Glove: Now You Can Be Like Daredevil

Range — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:31:47 +0000

Being visually impaired or blind isn’t something easy to deal with, but hopefully with future tech like this haptic glove, it will get easier. While it doesn’t replace a lost sense, it will help out trying to get around obstacles. The Tacit is a wrist-mounted sonar device, that offers haptic feedback for the visually-impaired.

Designed and built by Steve Hoefer, the Tacit glove uses two sonar ping sensors to measure distances around its wearer. The relative distance is then fed back to the user thanks to two servos, which apply pressure to the back of the wrist, helping them avoid obstacles and better judging distances.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Tacit uses an Arduino pro mini to control the sonar sensors and provide feedback to the servos. The whole thing runs off a 9-volt battery, and is completely self-contained.

What’s even more impressive is that the Tacit is actually a Creative Commons licensed DIY project. You can actually make one or have it made for you by someone who’s good with electronics. Steve provides a parts list, schematic and source code here.

[via Hack-a-Day]

Willow Garage Studies Ways to Help the Disabled Using its PR2 Robot

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:45:37 +0000

From the time I was born, my grandfather was paralyzed from the waist down and spent his days sitting in a wheelchair. I never really thought it was strange that he couldn’t walk growing up; it’s just the way he was to me. I do remember him having a hard time with the little things most of us never think about like getting dishes out of a tall cabinet, picking things up off the floor, and getting to and from the bed each day. I can only imagine how much more difficult life would have been had he been a quadriplegic.

Technology today makes living and doing the little things for the disabled much easier. We have talked about Willow Garage and its cool PR2 robot in the past. Willow Garage has been working with the Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech and a paralyzed man named Henry Evans on new interfaces that allow the severely disabled to live an easier and more normal life. Evans had a stroke at 40-years-old and now only has use of one finger and his head.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

He is able to do little things for himself using an experimental interface like shave and scratch his own back that he couldn’t not do alone before. I think this sort of research holds a lot of promise for the disabled; it’s too bad the PR2 costs so much though since 99.9% of the people that could use it can’t afford one.

Breath-Controlled Kick Pedal for Guitar Heroes

Alisha K. — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:35:55 +0000

Mods and hacks aren’t always about looking good; often the more clever and crafty individuals among us will bend their minds to making something more versatile in order to fill a need. In this case, a wheelchair-bound Guitar Hero enthusiast needed to find a way to circumvent the kick pedal on the World Tour drum set. The fabulous Benjamin Heckendorn to the rescue!

With the help of electrical tape, PVC pipe, and a little rubber tubing, Ben Heck set up a breath-controlled workaround for the drum set’s kick pedal. The better to keep your hands free for what’s important: playing the drums.

The entire process has been documented–even down to tips for dealing with cuts sustained in the process–so that you can try this one at home. And Rock Band fans have a reason to rejoice: it’s apparently easier to pull this off with the Rock Band kit.

[BenHeck.com via hackaday]