Preventing burn injuries for the blind and temperature insensitive

 

Blind people navigate a lot with their hands and so hot surfaces can be a danger for them. Likewise with people who have a condition that takes away their ability to feel the temperature. For them, we have developed a glove that can measure the temperature and distance of the surface the hand is pointing towards, and inform the user of dangerously hot or cold surfaces through vibration signals.

Technical explanation

 

An infrared thermometer and an ultrasonic proximity sensor are installed in the palm of the hand. We selected the smallest affordable components for these two sensors, so they aren’t in the way of using one’s hand. Picking things up and closing one’s hand goes with ease. At the wrist, we have installed a vibration motor that is in direct contact with the skin. When both the measured temperature is too high and the measured distance is too close, the vibration motor will start vibrating. The intensity increases as the surface gets hotter or the distance smaller.
The microprocessor (Teensy 3.2) is located on the back of the hand and the batteries are located at the end of the lower arm.

Software: Arduino IDE

Hardware: Teensy 3.2, GY-906 MLX90614ESF, VL53L0X, vibration module, jumper wires, resistors, nitrile glove, CR2025 button batteries

Project information

 

Project: TU/e, Electrical Engineering

Date: 09-2020 - 10-2020

Development time: 8 weeks

Team: Vito Fransen, Ramon van Schalm, Juliëtte van der Zalm, Sara Abadi, Noah van de Hee, Lucas Heutinck

My contribution: 3D visualization, hardware development lead

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