Dissertation Proposal Idea 2

The Second Idea:
I am also interested in the idea of a simulation of the room that could be communicated to the user through touch. What I mean by this is, that it could be possible to have a miniature model (possible virtual) that they could feel what was there with their hands.

For example: Possibly having a device that might scan a persons face, generate a 3D model of this and create a haptic model of the persons face so a person could feel the face without touching their face.

Dissertation Proposal Idea 1

I had a few ideas for my dissertation. Initially I wanted to design something in relation to helping people with learning disabilities with education. I still have an interest in this but now I am focusing more in the direction designing something for the visually impaired.

There are two ideas that I am thinking about as a dissertation project for the visually impaired.

The First Idea:
The first idea that has come to me is clothing that can detect how close people are to objects or people and communicate this information to a blind person wearing the clothes.

This idea came to me after a presentation Luigina Colfi gave about Ubiquitous computing where Nike’s idea of sports clothes with sensors in the clothing was presented in the lecture. I found this fascinating that the technology was there working away to communicate with the athlete about their bodies performance without anybody noticing it and with little intrusion on the athletes appearance or performance.

Similarly I think it is possible to incorporate this type of unobtrusive technology into clothing or jewellery for people that are visually impaired. I imagine that this would help them immensely in confidence to go out of their home and aid in decreasing any self conscious feelings they may have about carrying a cane or having a guide dog.

I was hoping to use sensors in the clothing that would detect what was in the room and possibly communicate a warning if they were about to walk into it. The sensors could also detect the amount of people in the room, the size of it and what is in it.

How to communicate this information is the real challenge. It is unclear to me yet as the best way to communicate with the user. I feel the audio would be the easiest way of communicating but is not favorable for blind people as it would intrude on a sense they rely on very heavily. There is also the idea of communicating through feeling for example vibration, heat, cold, pinch, etc.