To All: Some excerpts follow from an article in the latest issue of Machine Design:========================================================== Tech students build a car blind people can drive. One of the first steps was to add a Hokuyo UTM-30LX single-plane laser range finder, which acts much like a radar. The sensor sends range and distance data on objects in front of the car to a CompactRIO real-time controller from National Instruments. The controller contains an FPGA that processes targets, translating the range-finder?s data into information the drive can use to stay on the road and avoid obstacles (cones). The tricky part, of course, was conveying the sensor information to blind drivers. The approach they chose was to take advantage of the driver?s other senses, hearing and touch. For example, drivers wear a vest with several motors sewn into it. Each motor vibrates at a variety of intensity levels. To stay within the speed limit, one of the motors vibrates to indicate braking is needed, and the degree to which it vibrates correlates with the amount of braking needed. If the controller interprets all the input data as saying there?s an unavoidable obstacle up ahead, another motor in the vest vibrates, cueing the driver to stop immediately. The team developed a tactile map to give drivers an idea of where they are. The flat, handheld device has small holes on one surface, similar to an air-hockey table. Compressed air sent through specific holes, or pixels, depict obstacles the laser range finder has detected. The map, named AirPix, lets drivers ?feel? obstacles and navigate around them.==========================================================

(...)Blind drivers? How many do you need?We're giving 'em away! > Each motor vibrates at a variety of intensity levels.How about a back cushion that indicates the presence of obstacles tothe rear and sides? That tailgating Kenworth could give mea back massage!--Winston

Winston fired this volley in news: Why not? Drive-up ATMs have Braille keyboards.LLoyd

Blind Car Drivers?

Nov 07, 2009 23 Replies

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Lloyd E. Sponenburgh 16 years ago

Winston fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:

Why not? Drive-up ATMs have Braille keyboards.

LLoyd

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Winston 16 years ago

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"Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity."

If I were a caregiver for a partially sighted person, it'd be convenient to have them use the ATM from the driver side passenger seat. The Braille would be a good 'parallel information path'.

I can 'see' that. :)

--Winston

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Stormin Mormon 16 years ago

Have you seen traffic tickets, issued in braille? That's, next, probably.

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Michael A. Terrell 16 years ago

That's because they use the same keypad in walkup ATMs. It reduces the inventory needed for service work, and the chances of being out of a Braille keypad when needed. I used to work next door to a Diebold service center, and talked to their techs when I was on break. They have guaranteed response & repair times in their contracts with banks and all of their other equipment. That is why most repairs are done at the assmbly level, rather than the component level. I used to get dozens of two year old gel cells for free from other bank equipment repair people that were replaced before they had a chance to fail.

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