Synthesis

Morphological Chart

For our design, we will be going with a vibrational alert system that shall be safe and functional for the individual while not being too obtrusive. Recycled nylon shall be used to provide affordability. The "shopping cart" buckle was chosen for its simplicity when putting it on and taking it off. It can be tightened according to the users' dimensions but still will create enough stiffness to keep the motors and sensors in place. Passive Infrared Sensors were chosen as they would be most effective at detecting surroundings in different scenarios. The battery type would be lithium-ion as it would be affordable and light enough to place on the belt and a USB C Port was chosen as it would be easy to acquire and use. Two to six motors and four sensors shall be placed around the belt in order to give the user the best vibrational feedback about their surroundings. However, if it turns out that this choice for the number of components turns out to be not enough to properly sense obstacles or alert the user, we can include more components if necessary.

We chose a hybrid model for the control method for the device since having both gives the device both a tactile and more in-depth tuning. The device will feature a basic power switch and several small buttons: three for motor strength (light, medium, hard) and a sleep mode function, which temporarily turns off the device's sensors for a temporary amount of time. An app would allow greater tuning for motor strength and allow the user to hone their own dead zone for the range in which it activates.Â