I-Corps: Georgia Tech iCorps Team: Walker, Yeung, and Solomon

I-Corps：佐治亚理工学院 iCorps 团队：Walker、Yeung 和 Solomon

• 批准号: 1439463
• 负责人: Bruce Walker
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2014-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1439463&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Georgia; Tech; iCorps; Team

Many of the millions of blind and low-vision people in the US and around the world use mobile devices such as iPhones, taking advantage of the built-in auditory user interface. When they want to make a call or check email while walking, including when they are actively using a white cane or holding the harness of a Guide Dog, they must stop, stow the cane or curb the dog; take out the phone; hold it to the ear to hear the auditory interface (or go through the added steps of donning headphones), and use swipes and taps to navigate the device?s spoken menus. This can be slow or even dangerous in a busy/noisy location. The proposed plan is to embed a robust, weatherproof remote control device into the handle of the white cane or dog harness. The user could then simply use his/her free thumb to interact with the remote's buttons while still using the white cane or holding the dog harness. Other potential users include cyclists, runners, hikers, skiers, and other active individuals. The team has developed a fully functional white cane handle (on a real white cane) that connects to an iPhone, and allows the user to interact with their iPhone while simultaneously using the cane as normal. The current prototype has evolved from sketches, to green foam models, to CAD models, to 3D printed dummy handles, and finally to 3D printed complete handles, with fully functioning buttons. The internal electronics for the prototype use the circuit board taken from a small Bluetooth keyboard. The buttons on the cane handle are physically wired to the keyboard circuit board's arrow keys. This works, and leverages the keyboard's existing connectivity to the phone. The team has demoed the fully functional prototype, and has started user testing to verify that the cane-to-iPhone connection works as expected, that the user can interact comfortably and effectively with the cane, and that the user can access ther iPhone while walking.

在美国和世界各地数以百万计的盲人和低视力人群中，有许多人使用iphone等移动设备，利用其内置的听觉用户界面。当他们想在走路时打电话或查看电子邮件时，包括当他们积极使用白手杖或牵着导盲犬的挽具时，他们必须停下来，把手杖收起来或约束狗；拿出手机；把它贴在耳朵上听听觉界面（或者通过戴上耳机的附加步骤），用滑动和点击来导航设备？语音菜单。在繁忙/嘈杂的地方，这可能很慢甚至很危险。提议的计划是将一个坚固的，防风雨的遥控装置嵌入到白色手杖或狗具的手柄中。然后，用户只需用他/她的自由拇指与遥控器的按钮进行交互，同时仍然使用白色手杖或拿着狗具。其他潜在用户包括骑自行车的人、跑步者、徒步旅行者、滑雪者和其他活跃的个人。该团队开发了一种功能齐全的白色手杖手柄（在一根真正的白色手杖上），它可以连接到iPhone上，让用户在正常使用手杖的同时与iPhone互动。目前的原型已经从草图，到绿色泡沫模型，到CAD模型，到3D打印假手柄，最后到3D打印完整的手柄，功能齐全的按钮。原型机的内部电子元件使用了从一个小型蓝牙键盘上取下的电路板。手柄上的按钮与键盘电路板上的箭头键相连。这是可行的，并且利用了键盘与手机的现有连接。该团队已经展示了全功能的原型，并开始进行用户测试，以验证手杖与iPhone的连接是否如预期的那样工作，用户可以舒适有效地与手杖进行交互，并且用户可以在走路时访问他们的iPhone。