[ELECTRON] possibility of short term paid employment

Marion Hersh m.hersh at elec.gla.ac.uk
Tue Mar 2 20:37:15 UTC 2010


I should add that one of the issues is using a communication system that
the user are familiar with, which is the reason for the deaflind manual
alphabet.  In practice communication using finger Braille would be a lot
faster and more efficient, but not that many deaflind people are
familiar with it.  Unfortunately Speech recognition has not really got
to the stage yet where the same system can be used by a lot of different
people without training it, which is why I am thinking of the
possibility of speech output, but not speech input.

You're right though the device does not need to be in the form of a
glove, it could be a partial glove.  The person would not be wearing it
all the time, so it would not need to be washed that often, but the
issue would still arise.

Thanks for all the suggestions.  Hope, I'm not sounding as though I am
dismissing them quickly I am not.  Any more ideas you or anyone else can
come up with would be very welcome.
Marion


On 02/03/2010 20:22, Marion Hersh wrote:
> 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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