Published December 18, 2023 © GPL3+

EchoSight

In 2020, over 2.5 million people with visual disabilities were detected. Here we're giving them access to information in a smarter way

IntermediateShowcase (no instructions)15 hours185

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino Nano R3

NXP RC-522

DFRobot DFPlayer - A Mini MP3 Player

Flash Memory Card, SD Card

Speaker, Piezo

Battery, 3.7 V

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Autodesk Fusion

Microsoft Visual Studio 2017

google forms

Hand tools and fabrication machines

3D Printer (generic)

Soldering iron (generic)

Solder Wire, Lead Free

heat-shrink tubing

Story

Objective

The objective of this project is to modify the way in which people with visual impairment or blindness can access certain information determined by the institution such as that present in the signs and signs, through the development of an electronic device, which plays customizable sounds for each RFID tag of the system that is read. In order to determine what information to provide to a person with severe visual impairment or blindness, the device requires an external signal to indicate where the person is and what information he or she should receive at that location. RFID tags are a way to identify a product or object in the industry wirelessly, it is an evolution of the bar code which uses radio frequency waves to transmit a code faster. This invention was popularized making it more accessible and cheaper, as well as the ideal candidate for the identification of the information that has to be transmitted to the person.

Problem

People with severe visual impairment or blindness lack the ability to read printed information with ink, so they need to find other ways to obtain such information, which requires extra time and effort. to obtain such information, which requires extra time and effort. They use different tools to gather this information such as white canes and Braille system. Nothing is perfect but specially Braille system comes with a lot of disadvantages, for starters not all blind people can read Braille, specially in my country, Mexico. Braille signs also are lacking because of how expensive and space inefficient they are compared to normal ink signs. Another problem is that Braille reading is generally slower than sight reading.

What to do?

The plan is to create a wearable device that can provide information to people with visual impairment or blindness using sound, that way we're avoiding all previously mentioned problems concerning Braille signs. To make this possible the device needs to be able to reproduce sound in an intelligible way and to know when to reproduce such sound. We're also going to need some way to load the information into the wearable.

The solution I found for knowing when to provide the information is using RFID tags, that way the user can approach the RFID tag the same way he would approach a Braille sign, but this time he would only need to get the device close to the RFID tag and it will start reproducing the audio with the information.

Functions

Store audio files
Read RFID tags
Reproduce audio

Design specifications

Must be able to detect RFID tags at a distance in the range of 1 to 5 cm.
Must weigh no more than 250 grams.
Must operate with an independent power supply, 2 hrs at a time.
Must be able to store and read 32 GB of information

Design criteria

Low construction cost
Easy operation
Moderate volume
Easy audio recording

Uploading new RFID Tags

Visual Studio App

Just need to connect the Arduino to the PC and run this app, then open csv file with all the RFID tags, select COM port and upload, the RFID tags will store inside the EEPROM memory

You also need to store mp3 files with the audio you want to reproduce in the next format:

Prototype test:

PCB Design:

PCB 3D Model:

Bracelet 3D model

Assembly of PCB

Printing of Bracelet:

Result:

300 tests where done to the final device getting 30 true positives, 0 false positives, 0 false negatives and 270 true negatives, resulting in 100% certainty it will produce the correct audio.

I also made a survey asking is the audio the device made is intelligible which gave good results

Totally Agree - Agree - Neutral - Disagree - Totally Disagree

Finally I asked blind persons if they would use the device

Never - Ocasionally - Each Month - Each Week - Everyday

Schematics

Code

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.IO;

namespace Registrador_RFID
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            ColumnHeader header = new ColumnHeader();
            header.Text = "Códigos";
            header.Name = "col1";
            header.Width = 110;
            listView1.Columns.Add(header);
            listView1.Scrollable = true;
            listView1.View = View.Details;

            button2_Click(sender, e);
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {   //Send
            if (comboBox1.Text == "")
                return;

            serialPort1.PortName = comboBox1.Text;


            try
            {
                foreach (var item in listA)
                {
                    serialPort1.Open();
                    serialPort1.Write(item);
                    serialPort1.Close();
                    Task.Delay(500).Wait();
                }
            }
            catch
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Couldn't connecto to the device", "Error",MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
            }
        }

        private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {   //Update
            comboBox1.Items.Clear();
            string[] ports = SerialPort.GetPortNames();
            foreach (string port in ports)
                comboBox1.Items.Add(port);
        }

        List<string> listA = new List<string>();
        private void button3_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {   //Open File
            OpenFileDialog v1 = new OpenFileDialog();
            v1.Filter = "CSV (*.csv)|*.csv";

            if (v1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            {
                
                StreamReader reader = null;
                reader = new StreamReader(File.OpenRead(Convert.ToString(v1.FileName)));
                
                listA.Clear();
                listView1.Items.Clear();
                while (!reader.EndOfStream)
                {
                    var line = reader.ReadLine();
                    var values = line.Split(',');
                    int i = 0;
                    foreach (var item in values)
                    {
                        i++;
                        listA.Add("x" + i.ToString("D3") + "y" + item + "z");
                        listView1.Items.Add("#"+i.ToString("D3")+" "+item);
                    }
                }
                reader.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include "DFRobotDFPlayerMini.h"
#include <SPI.h>
#include <MFRC522.h>
#include <EEPROM.h>

#define RST_PIN 9
#define SS_PIN 10

String mySt;
char myChar = 0;

MFRC522 mfrc522(SS_PIN, RST_PIN);

// Ports for communication with DFPlayer (serial)
static const uint8_t PIN_MP3_TX = 2; // Connect to RX in the module 
static const uint8_t PIN_MP3_RX = 3; // Connect to TX in the module 
SoftwareSerial softwareSerial(PIN_MP3_RX, PIN_MP3_TX);

DFRobotDFPlayerMini player;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  SPI.begin();
  mfrc522.PCD_Init();
  softwareSerial.begin(9600);
  if (player.begin(softwareSerial))
    player.volume(30);  // Volume (0 a 30)
}
int leido[4];
int id;
char codigo[15];
int dir;
char code_temp[3];
int code[4];
int StrToHex(char str[]){
  return (int) strtol(str, 0, 16);
}

void loop() {
  if (Serial.available() > 0) {
     myChar = Serial.read();
     mySt +=myChar;
   }
   if ((mySt.length() >0)&(!Serial.available())) {
      if(mySt.length()!=14) return;
      mySt.toCharArray(codigo,15);
      if(!(codigo[0]=='x'&&codigo[4]=='y'&&codigo[13]=='z')) return;
      dir=(100*(codigo[1]-'0'))+(10*(codigo[2]-'0'))+(codigo[3]-'0')-1;
      
      for(int i=0;i<4;i++){
        for(int j=0;j<2;j++)
          code_temp[j]=codigo[j+5+(2*i)];
        code[i]=StrToHex(code_temp);
      }
      digitalWrite(5,HIGH);
      for(int i=0;i<4;i++)
        EEPROM.update((dir*4)+i,code[i]);
      digitalWrite(5,LOW);
      mySt="";
   }

  if ( ! mfrc522.PICC_IsNewCardPresent()) return;
  if ( ! mfrc522.PICC_ReadCardSerial()) return;
  memset(leido, 0, sizeof(leido));
  id=0;
  for (byte i = 0; i < mfrc522.uid.size; i++)
      leido[i]= mfrc522.uid.uidByte[i];
  // End RFID tag reading
  mfrc522.PICC_HaltA();         

  for(int i=0;i<128;i++)
    if(EEPROM.read(4*i)==leido[0])
      if(EEPROM.read(4*i+1)==leido[1])  
        if(EEPROM.read(4*i+2)==leido[2]) 
          if(EEPROM.read(4*i+3)==leido[3]) 
            id=i+1;
  player.play(id);
}

Credits

Rodrigo Rangel

1 project • 1 follower

EchoSight

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Objective

Problem

What to do?

Functions

Design specifications

Design criteria

Uploading new RFID Tags

Custom parts and enclosures

3D Bracelet Model

Schematics

Electronic schematic

Code

Visual Studio App

Arduino Code

Credits

Rodrigo Rangel

Comments

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EchoSight

EchoSight

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Objective

Problem

What to do?

Functions

Design specifications

Design criteria

Uploading new RFID Tags

Custom parts and enclosures

3D Bracelet Model

Schematics

Electronic schematic

Code

Visual Studio App

Arduino Code

Credits

Rodrigo Rangel

Comments

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