INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION
Smart device for visually impaired
A personalized navigation device being developed by a University of Windsor assistant engineering professor and a third-year student using existing technologies in a unique way is drawing international attention.
Joshua Jaekel, in his third-year of electrical engineering, will present the duo’s research to some of the biggest names in the inertia sensor and systems industry March 29 in Kauai, Hawaii.
“It’s a bit intimidating presenting to people who have been working years in this field, being a third-year student,” said Jaekel, a Windsor native.
“I’ve always enjoyed seeing how things worked. I started doing that with a robotics LEGO kit I had, so I guess I owe it all to LEGO.”
Jaekel will be addressing a who’s who of the industry, including the U.S. military, Apple and Bosch.
Assistant professor Jalal Ahamed hopes to join Jaekel at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Symposium on Inertial Sensors and Systems.
“I’m so proud of Josh,” said Ahamed, who was invited to the same conference as a post-doctoral student. “He’s taken existing technologies and combined them in a way no way else is doing. He’s used a lot of different algorithms and math to make this work.”
In layman’s terms, the device sends out an acoustic signal and measures how long it takes to ping back to measure distance from an obstacle. That information is added to the findings of a motion sensor, which tracks an individual’s path and maps out the room.
For six months, beginning in January 2016, Jaekel laboured to find the right algorithms that would combine the two technologies efficiently.
He spent another six months testing the device and troubleshooting with Ahamed.
“I would walk up and down the hallway in my apartment building with this thing attached to my foot and a battery pack on my hip,” Jaekel said. “I got a few looks from my neighbours.”
With the chip’s tiny processor being updated 100 times per second, the device can guide an individual around a strange room. It can even use air pressure differences to ascertain what floor of a building the individual is on or detect stairs.
It hasn’t been decided how the device will warn users of impending trouble. Jaekel said initially it could be as simple as a beep or vibration, but could also include voice capabilities.
The two researchers have already filed the paperwork in the U.S. to get a patent on their device.
“You can use this for the visually impaired or in any situation where you’re operating in restricted visibility,” Jaekel said.
“Potentially, we see it also being used in mining or for keeping track of firefighters in a building or helping them know what’s ahead in smoke-filled spaces.”
Jaekel said the device can be equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities allowing the devices to “talk to each other.”
The pair has begun talking with potential industry partners about commercial use. It’s likely still 12 to 24 months away from coming onto the market if industry is interested.
“We still have some vigorous field testing to do and we need to shrink the (palm-sized) device,” Ahamed said. “We want it to be so you can slip it into a white cane or a shoe.”
With the brains of the device able to fit on a half-inch by half-inch chip, Ahamed feels that won’t be a difficult challenge for industry.
It should also enable the duo to fulfil their dreams of keeping the device inexpensive and accessible.
“The ultimate goal is a cost between $5 and $10,” Ahamed said.
“If it’s more than the cost of a cane, people in some countries can’t afford it.”
Ahamed has been conducting research in the area of motion sensors for years and as the device moves closer to being available to the public, he admits he’s been driven for personal reasons to seek a breakthrough.
“My grandmother on my father’s side was visually impaired and I remembered how constrained she was by it,” Ahamed said. “This is personal to me.
“I want to do anything I can to help the visual impaired because they can be forgotten.”