[ELECTRON] possibility of short term paid employment

[Marion Hersh]

Hi Gordon,
There are some devices for deaflind people based on morse code, but not
sure this would work here.  
Regards
Marion


On 02/03/2010 18:38, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
> On Tue, 2010-03-02 at 14:22 +0000, Marion Hersh wrote:
>
>   
>> ·         Investigating options for input/output combinations for the
>> deafblind person, including relay switch vibrator/pressure sensor
>> combination; pressure sensors and vibro-tactile actuators embedded in
>> a smart fabric; miniature vibrators and motors, possibly in
>> combination with a relay switch.
>>     
> The first thing that springs to mind is Morse code, but I might be
> biased ;-)
>
> Rather than detect the timing of dots and dashes (which is notoriously
> hard to do even if you're sending very accurate Morse), use two contacts
> - one for dots, one for dashes.  Normally this would be something like a
> paddle key: 
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph_key#Iambic_.28dual-lever.29_Paddles
>
> In this case, you could use a small blob of something conductive on the
> fingertips and thumbs of a glove.  Touch your index finger to your thumb
> for a dot, and middle finger to your thumb for a dash.
>
> I'm not sure how well a pager motor would work - would it spin up
> quickly enough to give a nice crisp start to a dot?  Stopping it
> instantly would be easy using magnetic braking (short across the motor).
> Perhaps a small solenoid that would "tap" the back of your hand - back
> rather than palm so you can still grip things!
>
>   
>> ·         Investigating input/output options for the communication
>> partner, including a miniaturised keyboard, pointer and on-screen
>> keyboard, small LCD text display, possibly as part of a mobile
>> telephone or PDA, and speech output with text-speech conversion and
>> either an earpiece or small loudspeaker. The text display could also
>> act as the screen for the screen keyboard.  There would be advantages
>> in the development of two versions, one as a self-contained device and
>> another which is compatible with mobile phones with Wifi and/or
>> Bluetooth.
>>     
> Decoding Morse and displaying it on a small LCD would be a Small Matter
> of Programming; there is already an Arduino library for driving common
> "Hitachi"-type LCDs, and decoding Morse.  Entering text may be more
> difficult simply because you've got to get a keyboard in there
> somewhere.  For initial experiments you could use a plain vanilla PC
> keyboard; the serial protocol is well-documented and easy to implement.
>
> You'd need something with a bit of grunt to do wifi or bluetooth.
> Likewise, text-to-speech and even more so speech recognition would
> probably tax even very powerful microcontrollers so you're probably
> looking at something like a Beagle Board.
>
>   
>> ·         Writing software, including for communication between
>> communication partner and deafblind person and for input to and output
>> from mobile phone and other input/output devices.        
>>     
> If you stick to nice simple class-compliant USB interfaces like
> usb-serial devices, you'll avoid a lot of hassle in the long run even if
> it means you need a "clever" serial protocol.  Software is easy.
>
>   
>> ·         Investigating durable materials for the glove.
>>     
> The difficulty with wearable computing is that you've got to take the
> electronics out to wash the clothes!  Even if you just leave the cables
> in place, washing will potentially damage the connectors and corrode
> wiring inside the insulation.  You don't want that.  Maybe some sort of
> durable breathable material that you could pull over a washable glove?
>
> Obviously it doesn't have to be a glove - you could use a suck-blow
> switch for tetraplegic people.  You could use a footswitch for someone
> who has no use of their arms.  The possibilities are limited only by the
> number of muscles you can use to move a contact.  Detecting nerve
> impulses directly is very hard, but possible.
>
> Gordon MM0YEQ
>
>
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