Design for a Cause Challenge: The Challengers

abhishek2018 India

Project: Artificial Leg Support with Stair Climbing Ability

Synopsis: The design of an artificial leg support implemented with Arduino MKR1000 DevBoard with stair climbing ability. The prime motive of making this leg is to make an affordable stair climbing leg support which can be integrated with non- electric or normal wheelchair to lift 120kg/264.5 pounds.  Both legs are connected to an Arduino Advanced Controller.

Abhishek Bansal's project blogs

neoskedar USA

Project: Ultrasonic Collision Avoidance System

Synopsis:  When I heard about this challenge, I knew right away I wanted to do something to help the blind. Canes are great and effective tools.  Unfortunately, they are also bulky and not practical for tight spaces.  Speaking with a local blind teacher, we decided on creating something that she can wear and detect obstacles while giving haptic feedback for both the classroom and everyday life.

Aaron Oliver's project blogs

granzeier USA

Project: Caretaker Summoner for Mentally Handicapped Adult

Synopsis: For this challenge, I would like to design a device which can assist mentally handicapped adults with summoning help.  The device will have a very limited number of large pushbutton switches with photographs of their caretaker(s) on the button.  When the user presses that particular button, the device will contact the caretaker (either by email, text or recorded telephone call.)

Art G. Granzeier III's project blogs

badhri1 India

Project: Smart Cane

Synopsis: A "Smart Stick" for the blind that is powered by Arduino. Our proposed project uses an ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacles in close proximity to the user. The information from the sensor is processed by the Arduino MKR1000 board to send a noise or vibration to alert the user. Additionally, there are sensors for the presence of light and water respectively that alert the user with the corresponding noise emanated from the Buzzer. The light sensor can be helpful for the user to traverse dark or dimly lit places. In case the Stick is misplaced, the user can locate it by means of a remote which tracks the location of it.

Badhrinarayan Malolan's project blogs

dwinhold Canada

Project: The Seeing EyeDuino

Synopsis: The Seeing EyeDuino will be a robotic Seeing Eye dog that guide the seeing impaired around obstacles and danger. The user will be able to control the speed through the hand harness attached to the robot. When there is danger the robot will emit a specific sound correlated with that danger to alert the user. There will be different sound emitted for different dangers.  I will also try to create a touch pad that will send this information in braille as well.

Dale Winhold's project blogs

Dixon Selvan India

Project: Anosmia

Synopsis:  This project is to enhance the lives of people suffering from Anosmia, an inability to sense smell. The project will be split into two main subsystems: Audio & Visual Cue System and a Smart Wheel Chair.  It translate the smells in the environment and have voice control features over appliances—alerting potentially harmful gas leaks.

Dixon Selvan's project blogs

fyaocn China

Project: Blowing-Whistle as Controller(BWaC)

Synopsis: The Blowing-Whistle as Controller (BWaC) can control home appliance remotely.  It is helpful to elders with slow coordination and difficult precise touch controller like an IR-remote or mobile. The one fix-frequency whistle can send on-off signals to lock doors, turn off LED lamps, and close curtains.  It can also detect keys left at the door.  When you blow the whistle in front of your door, the servo will turn the lock.

F. Yao's project blogs

hopprich USA

Project: The Familiar Appointment and Medication Reminder (FAMiliaR)

Synopsis: People with memory or cognitive issues need a reminder system to help them take medication, attend or prepare for appointments, or any other one-off or recurring events.  This unit is connected to a medication organizer box with a familiar voice informing users on types of medication and how to take them.  In enhanced models sensors could monitor opened medication compartments and provide visuals or videos of family for memory stimulation.

John Hopprich's project blogs

jkutzsch USA

Project: DC_MoTiOn

Synopsis:  I am a military veteran currently with a 50% disability rating, afflicted with common issues of being sedentary for long periods from sitting and an aging body.  I will focus on 3 major areas: introducing a range of movement for a person in a sedentary role, a system that force time-based activities, and allow for future changes and challenges.

John Kutzschebauch's project blogs

fiftystatebanana USA

Project: Medicine Clock

Synopsis: This is a reminder system for people who have trouble remembering to take their medicine.  This system produces an ecosystem of sensory triggers built by the patient and their family.  It pairs sensory "tokens" to cue memories by playing music or redirecting residents to focus upon environmental items which provide positive feedback.

Joseph Phillips' project blogs

kyle90 Canada

Project: The Balance Belt

Synopsis: A wearable device for seniors that senses falling motion and bad posture. Following the detection of a fall, the device will send a notification to the user's phone and a motor vibration in the device. If the user does not respond with a confirmation within a given time limit, the device would call 911 using a recorded message with the user's name, address and medical history then it would request an ambulance. We would like to implement things like posture reminders, and other functions to ensure a better quality of life.

Kyle Buchanan's project blogs

milosrasic98 Serbia

Project: Fingerprint Skeleton Key

Synopsis: My idea is primarily aimed towards the visually impaired people, but I feel it can be useful for anyone. We live in an age of an ever growing market of smart locks and NFC locks, again there are a lot of plain locks which remain all over. While for a non visually impaired person it's annoying to go through a key ring looking for the right one, it is even more cumbersome for a visually impaired person. Another problem is finding where people left their keys.  This product should resolve these issues.

Milos Rasic's project blogs

omar17 Mexico

Project: JAMI

Synopsis: An electronic device that facilitates the use and control of a computer for people with disabilities in their upper extremities.  JAMI allows people who cannot operate a computer the normal way to manage personal or work related activities using their feet.  It is specially designed with a foot enabled mouse rather than a hand mouse.

Omar Ulises Gallardo Rodriguez's project blogs

pranjalranjan299 India

Project: AUDIO4VISION - Automated Image Caption Audio Generator for Visually Impaired People

Synopsis: Living with visual impairment can be challenging, since daily-life situations are difficult to understand without good visual acuity. This is a wearable device, a headset with a camera(arduCam) on the front, which will take a continuous stream of images. These images will then be passed through a neural network model and give a description announcing to the visually impaired user.

Pranjal Ranjan's project blogs

prashanth.nagendrappa India

Project: Smart Voice synthesizer and visualizer

Synopsis: This project aims to solve challenges faced by the people who are unable to speak.  The wearable sensor based gloves acquire information related to the shape, orientation, movement, and location of the hand. They contain flex sensors and a 3-D accelerometer. Based on particular movement, voice correspondence will be generated and the text will be displayed. A mode change on the system can also control home appliances connected to the system.

Prashanth Kumar G N's project blogs

roborob1266 USA

Project: Autism Assistant

Synopsis: My autistic son does not speak so I will create a system that will speak on his behalf with the push of buttons.  I will also implement a touch screen where he can select items with the button and say “I want” then display item that he selects.  It will say out loud “I want” “Apple” or “Chips” or whatever he selects.  My goal is to develop a device with a flash drive that parents can add photos and audio (their voice) for each item to meet the child's needs.

Rob Romero's project blogs