Final Project Journal

Project Ideation

1- Tell us about the idea of your project. Why do you care about this? What were you inspired by? Include images and videos of similar projects

ULTRASONIC RADAR PROJECT FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

THIRD EYE FOR BLIND

The main purpose of my project is to make the lives of blind people or even the visually impaired people easier, with the help of ultrasonic distance sensor, to detect objects in front of the person and to prevent them from hitting objects by giving an audible warning or vibrations.

If the user is in distance from 0 to 40 cm the buzzer sounds continuously, from 40 to 80 cm the buzzer is on for 1000ms and off for 1000ms, from 80 to 120 cm buzzer is on for 100ms and off for 1500ms.

Same for the vibration motor if the user is in distance from 0 to 40 cm the vibration motor vibrates continuously, from 40 to 80 cm the vibration motor is on for 1000ms and off for 1000ms, from 80 to 120 cm the vibration motor is on for 100ms and off for 1500ms.

I added a slide switch so the user can choose between sound mode or vibration(silent) mode.

Dogs who help the visually impaired people need too much time to be able to help them and cane sticks can only provide limited assistance, what if we could provide third eye to the visually impaired!!

-I made a search on google and youtube to collect as many ideas as possible.

here is some links of videos of similar projects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pch3wCEP-I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcKAn2l5htY

Project Construction

2- Explain the CAD process of your project. How did you use the software to design your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)

I used Fusion 360 to design my project and ultimaker cura for slicing.

sketching a 80*90 mm triangle from the origin point then, extruding it by selecting the profile, specifying the distance to be 50mm(height) and set the direction to one side. and now we have the first body.

using shell to remove material from the body and to make it hollow with walls of a specified thickness (2mm).
by selecting the face that in need to be shelled and making the direction inside.
now we have that empty box.

Sketching on the front side of the body;

-from CREATE choosing project or ctrl+P to select some points from the body it appears with purple color so i can use it in my sketch

-then, i draw that black line(2mm) with angle of 55 degrees

-From extrude and using CUT to cut it, selecting distance to be to object this allows us to select the back of the inside face of the box to be the end of the cutting .

-Now we have a nice ledge for the lid to rest on.

now we are ready to make another new component
making new sketch on the front plane with 0.1 mm offset for our projection for the clearance so the lid in the actual 3D print.
extruding the new body by selecting distance to be to object this allows us to select the back of the inside face of the box to be the end of the cutting .

making 3 sketches with eclipse; from the center i made it with width 15mm and 1mm thickness.
from extrude and using cut for the first one with an offset plane with 15 mm i made the cut with 1 mm in width, for the second one an offset plane with 13 mm, for the second one an offset plane with 11 mm.

Sketching a rectangle in the back of the box and from extrude cutting it to make a hole for the slider so it didn't be opened easily.

from analysis i made a section to make it split in half.
choosing the right plane and sketching this shape using projections from the bodies.
then extruding the sketch and making fillets to the edges.
now the body two is done.

making two cuts in the bottom of the first body in rectangle shape for the straps.

including the nano shield to the body using joint
From projection i select the holes to be able to extrude and cutting it.

for the ultrasonic i used projection to define the dimensions of it and sketching it with construction lines then i defined the center of the ultrasonic to be at the middle of the body then defining the radius of the emitters, then making the same steps for the crystal and sketching it on the body then from extrude i cut the all of them.

now after jointing the ultrasonic sensor we should fix it so i made two bodies to fix it;

-making a plane on the side of the sensor

-Sketching on the plane using projection lines to help with defining it.

From extrude making new body then copying and moving the copy body to the other side of the sensor.
Making four holes (3.2mm) using cut from extrude.

including the on/off switch to the sketch .
using projection lines of the switch to guide us at sketching.
from the sketch i select the face and cut it
jointing it to the body

Making sketch for the vibration motor and extruding it so i could be able to fix the motor in it.

And finally jointing the slide switch

editing the appearance to be plastic in black color

Autodesk Fusion 360 (Personal - Not for Commercial Use) 2021-09-29 07-03-06.mp4

Autodesk Fusion 360 (Personal - Not for Commercial Use) 2021-09-29 07-00-45.mp4

3- Explain the fabrication process of your project. How did you use the machine to fabricate your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)

-saving the files of every body as STL from fusion 360.

-import the stl file in ultimaker cura for slicing.

-moving the bodies.

-editing the print sitting by choosing PLA with infill 10% and 0.2 of profile defaults

-i used support and for my design.

-slicing the design so it would take 6 hours and 29 minutes.

-saving the file to the disk

-copying it into the SD card of the printer.

-now the design is ready to be printed

WhatsApp Video 2021-09-29 at 10.14.56 AM.mp4

-Then preparing the printer:

-at first checking the filament material to make sure that is enough and with the color i need

-preheating of bed and filament with 215 and 60 degrees.

-from menu choosing the g-code file of the design by pressing the middle button and enter the memory card then scrolling until reaching the desired file and finally pressing on the g-code again to start printing.

WhatsApp Video 2021-09-29 at 10.16.07 AM.mp4

WhatsApp Video 2021-09-29 at 10.21.19 AM.mp4

Project Electronics & Power Management

4- Describe your electronic circuit. What are the input and action components? What is the function of each? How do the components integrate together to form your smart system? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)

Input components:

-on/off switch to control the power.

-slide switch to choose between sound mode or vibration(silent) mode.

-ultrasonic sensor to detect the distances between the user and objects through the emitters and send signals to outputs.

Output components:

-vibration motor which vibrates continuously when the distance between 0 and 40 cm, vibrates for one second and break for one second when the distance between 40 and 80 cm, vibrates for 0.1 second and break for 1.5 seconds when the distance between 80 and 120 cm.

-buzzer which sounds continuously when the distance between 0 and 40 cm, sounds for one second and break for one second when the distance between 40 and 80 cm, sounds for 0.1 second and break for 1.5 seconds when the distance between 80 and 120 cm.

Connecting VCC pin of the ultrasonic sensor to the power pin of the ARDUINO NANO through the nano shield using the orange jumper.
Connecting GND pin of the ultrasonic sensor to the GND pin of the ARDUINO NANO through the nano shield using the black jumper.
Connecting trig pin of the ultrasonic sensor to D12 pin of the ARDUINO NANO through the nano shield using the purple jumper.
Connecting echo pin of the ultrasonic sensor to D11 pin of the ARDUINO NANO through the nano shield using the blue jumper.

For on/off switch i connected one of the terminals to the ground and one to the power.

for slide switch the middle one was connected to pin D2 of ARDUINO NANO SHIELD ,one of the terminals to the power and the other one to the ground.

for the vibration motor;

i connected the negative terminal of it to the source of the transistor using the purple jumper.
i connected the positive terminal of it to the GND of the arduino using the yellow jumper
the gate pin of the transistor was connected to 1kohms resistor and the resistor was connected to D2 of the arduino
the Drain pin of the transistor was connected to the ground of the arduino.

For the buzzer i connected the positive pin to D5 of the arduino, the negative pin to the ground.

And finally, connecting all the ground together then connecting it to the ground of the arduino nano shield and make the same thing to the power connections.

I used TinkerCad to simulate the circuit and i made the the same connections of tinkercad in my circuit but i made some edits to the connections of the vibration motor and the transistor as i connected them with another type of transistor.

If the user is in distance from 0 to 40 cm the buzzer sounds continuously, from 40 to 80 cm the buzzer is on for 1000ms and off for 1000ms, from 80 to 120 cm buzzer is on for 100ms and off for 1500ms.
Same for the vibration motor if the user is in distance from 0 to 40 cm the vibration motor vibrates continuously, from 40 to 80 cm the vibration motor is on for 1000ms and off for 1000ms, from 80 to 120 cm the vibration motor is on for 100ms and off for 1500ms.
I added a slide switch so the user can choose between sound mode or vibration(silent) mode.

bandicam 2021-09-29 11-05-56-472.mp4

5- What is your power source? How did you select the suitable power source for your project? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)

I used 9v battery as my power source.
Connecting it with the arduino nano the positive terminal to Vin pin of arduino and the negative terminal to the GND of the arduino nano, so the arduino nano will convert the voltage to 5v voltage.
Operating Voltage for vibration motor: 1.8-3V DC
Connecting the vibration motor to transistor and 1K ohms resistor so it wouldn't be burnt when i connected it to the arduino.
the buzzer wasn't in need to connect resistor to it as its Operating Voltage: 4-8V DC
connecting all the outputs in parallel so the voltage wouldn't be divided on them.

Project Programming

6- Describe the code of your project. How did you program each function of the project?

coding

at first i defined all the components
then i defined the inputs and the outputs
then i made void loops

Project Integration & Testing

7- Demonstrate with text and visuals how did you integrate the project’s modules together? What are the testing results? (Include a Demo video separately, showing a proof of functionality)

at first i tested the components and the circuit on breadboard then when the 3D model was ready i connected the circuit to the nano shield.

then i connected all the power wires together and all the gnd wires together

on/off switch to control the power of the device
slide switch to change the modes between vibration and sound.
vibration motor which vibrates continuously when the distance between 0 and 40 cm, vibrates for one second and break for one second when the distance between 40 and 80 cm, vibrates for 0.1 second and break for 1.5 seconds when the distance between 80 and 120 cm.
buzzer which sounds continuously when the distance between 0 and 40 cm, sounds for one second and break for one second when the distance between 40 and 80 cm, sounds for 0.1 second and break for 1.5 seconds when the distance between 80 and 120 cm.
ultrasonic sensor to detect the distances between the user and objects through the emitters and send signals to outputs.

Sharing & Collaboration

8- Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?

when i connected the vibration motor like the connections of the photo below it didn't work so my instructor advised me to se4arch more about the connections of this motor and we figured out that it works with transistor and resistor.

Also when i tested my arduino nano it didn't be able to connect with my lab, so my friend mariem advised me to connect it to her lab and it worked, so my instructor helped me with downloading some files to the arduino and it worked.

Overcoming Challenges

9- When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this project?

when i connect the jumpers to arduino nano shield the black plastics of the jumper take so much space from the inside of device so i cut them off then i connect the cupper wires to the shield.
i had a problem with the internet so i had to upload the video to youtube

Future Work

10- If you had more time, what is one thing you would change/ Do next in your project?

If i had more time i would make my nice to have features;

The buzzer will make lil sound for 100ms and the vibration motor will vibrate for 100ms when you switch on the power to warn the user that the project is on
- Action: micro vibration moto and buzzer
- User Input: on/off switch

Final Project Design Files

arduino code

body 1

body 2

body 3

body 4

G.code

final project.F3z

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