The Collission Prevention Suit v1.0 - Ryan & Kevin

Collision Prevention Suit

Introduction

As the name suggests, the suit will be designed to prevent the wearer from bumping into objects such as lampposts, bins and cars while walking. It will operate via a series of IR Proximity Sensors and Vibrating Beads, connected to each other via a central CPU, as displayed in the figure below.

Figure x: Full body suit and headwear

Operation Mechanics

When one of the IR Sensors (similar to those in Car Parking Sensors) senses an object close by, it will send a message to the CPU, directing it to send power to the associated vibrator ,(i.e.; Left Knee Sensor will send power to Left Knee Vibrator, Left Shoulder IR Sensor will send power to Left Shoulder Vibrator and so on)

This way, will not only know that there is an object close by, but what side of his body/body part risks bumping into that object.

Power

A suit like this will require a constant flow of electricity, which is where the rechargeable battery pack comes in. Once the day is at an end, can remove the suit, and plug it into a power socket to refuel.

Benefits of Suit

The chief advantage of this suit is its ability to allow the user to freely walk around in the streets without crashing into anything in the middle of his path. This can be used in conjunction with the to allow to safely navigate the streets en-route to his final destination.

Another advantage of this lightweight suit is that it may be worn underneath normal layers of clothing, and thus will help the wearer hide his condition from the public eye.

Suit Limitations

While the suit can help in a lot of ways, it is anything but perfect, and has its own limitations, including its dependency on power. Once the battery runs out of charge, the sensors and vibrating buttons will stop functioning, putting at risk of seriously injuring himself.

Also, while the suit will point away from obstacles, it does not have its own inbuilt GPS, therefore the wearer will not be able to get from point A to point B without the additional technology.

Communications Plan

Figure x: Map out for suits hardware. IR Proximity Sensors on the left and Vibrating buttons on the right.

Research

Proximity Sensors:

The blind and robots have a lot in common, in the sense that neither of them have fully functional eyes, and thus rely on other senses. In the case of robots, their secondary sense is artificial vision, which comes in many forms, including Proximity Sensors.

Such sensors may also be adopted by the blind, who could combine them with other elements to help know their surroundings.

A proximity sensor will send out a beam of IR and wait for the reflection. Once the IR’s reflection is received, the data is sent to a CPU to calculate distance through the equation:

When talking about IR Sensor operation, the authors of the journal Testing and Calibrating of IR Proximity Sensors, state that when reading distance between them and an object, “the sensors return the measured distance in a form of [an] analogue signal” which is then transferred to a CPU for all calculations to be made. In our case, the onboard CPU could send an electric pulse to the vibrating elements once distance is under 10cm (for instance)

Figure x: Image obtained from the aforementioned journal, showing how Proximity sensors determine whether or not an obstacle is in the way, and read the distance between itself and the obstacle.

Vibrating Elements:

This technology has been used in a number of gadgets in recent times, including mobile phones and for gaming purposes. Recently, 3^rd Space have come up with their similar version, utilizing air pockets instead of vibrating buttons, for their FPS Gaming Vest.

Besides use in gaming, vibrating vests have been used in the US Army, and may possibly be used in disco’s by the deaf, to hear music in a whole new way, as highlighted by pages 18 and 19 of TNO Magazine’s September2009 issue.

Such elements may be easily purchased from companies like Omega Piezo, who produce “a wide range of vibrating elements for use in applications including: alarms, speakers, atomizers, mist generators, and many others.”