Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
10 OmniSense-Dual — Dual-Wearable 360° Blind-Spot Detection, Directional Haptic Hazard Alerts, and Belly-Based Navigation for Pedestrian Safety
 Alex Jin
Jiateng Ma
Simon Xia
 Wesley Pang design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
video
Team Members:
- Simon Xia (hx17)
- Jiateng Ma (jiateng4)
- Alex Jin (jin50)

**1. Problem Statement**
Pedestrians in urban and campus environments frequently share space with bicycles, e-scooters, cars, and other pedestrians approaching from all directions. Unlike drivers, who benefit from mirrors and active driver-assistance systems, pedestrians have:
- Unprotected blind spots
Fast-approaching objects from behind or from diagonal sectors are often perceived too late, especially on shared bike/pedestrian paths and narrow sidewalks.
- Reduced situational awareness
Headphones, smartphones, and other distractions degrade auditory and visual awareness, making it harder to detect hazards or notice subtle visual cues.
- Navigation burden
Outdoor and indoor navigation typically depend on visually checking a smartphone map or listening to voice guidance. Both approaches demand attention, occupy hands or ears, and can themselves be unsafe in traffic or crowded environments. For visually impaired users, relying solely on audio is also not ideal.

Existing systems (smartphone maps, voice navigation, cycling radars, blind canes) each address part of the problem but do not provide integrated 360° safety sensing plus hands-free navigation with clear separation of meaning.

**2. Solution Overview**
We propose OmniSense-Dual, a dual-wearable system consisting of:
- A waist/belly-mounted sensing, compute, and navigation haptic module, and
- A head-mounted sensing + haptic hazard alert module

Key design choice:
- Head channel = hazard alerts only
- Belly channel = navigation cues only

This cleanly separates “something is dangerous around you” from “where you should go.”

Core functions:

- 360° Blind-Spot Hazard Awareness
The belly module uses mmWave and ToF/ultrasonic sensors to detect approaching objects around the torso. The head module provides an additional sensing plane for head-level obstacles. When a hazard is detected, the headband vibrates on the corresponding side/direction, signaling an urgent warning.
Hands-Free Navigation
- A smartphone app provides waypoints (outdoor via GPS; optionally indoor via BLE/UWB). The belly module fuses waypoints with IMU heading and encodes navigation instructions as gentle vibration patterns on the belly module (e.g., left side of belt = turn left soon). Navigation never uses the head motors, so it cannot be confused with hazard alerts.

OmniSense-Dual is designed for campus walking, urban commuting, and accessibility support, with a strong emphasis on non-visual, non-auditory, and clearly distinguishable feedback.

**3. Solution Components**
**Component A: Waist/Belly Perception & Compute Module**
Placement:
Worn around waist or belly using elastic belt.
Sensors:
- Rear + Rear-Diagonal (L/R): mmWave radar (60 GHz)
- Left + Right: ToF (e.g., VL53 series) or ultrasonic
- Front-Lower: ToF/IR for low obstacles (curbs, poles, steps)

Functions:
- Provides 360° sensing at waist plane
- Detects moving vs static obstacles
- Includes 6-DoF IMU for heading + gait
- Includes battery + charger + regulators
- Belly haptics used only for navigation

**Component B: Head-Mounted Hazard Alert Module**
Placement:
Headband, cap insert, or lightweight strap.
Haptic Feedback:
8 directional motors placed at:
- Front (0°)
- Front-Left (45°)
- Left (90°)
- Rear-Left (135°)
- Rear (180°)
- Rear-Right (225°)
- Right (270°)
- Front-Right (315°)

Electronics:
- Small BLE SoC/MCU
- Optional short-range ToF for head-height obstacles
- Small battery or wired power from belt

Role:
- Only hazard alerts
- No navigation patterns

**Component C: Navigation & Belly Haptic Interface**
Input Source:
Phone provides route via GPS (outdoor) or BLE/UWB (indoor).
Processing on Belt Module:
- Receives desired bearing from phone
- Computes angle difference using IMU
- Triggers haptic cue on belt

**Component D: Safety Hazard Logic**
Inputs:
- mmWave + ToF/ultrasonic
- Optional head ToF
- IMU heading

Hazards Detected:
- Approaching fast objects (bike, scooter)
- Sudden close static obstacles
- Rear or diagonal intrusion
- Low objects in walking path

Head Feedback Patterns (Hazard Only):
- Default hazard → strong 0.5–1.0s pulse in correct motor direction
- High severity → repeated strong pulses
- Multiple hazards → priority by time-to-collision

**Component E: Electronics & PCB**
Belly PCB Includes:
- MCU (e.g., STM32H7 or ESP32-S3)
- Sensor interfaces (mmWave, ToF, IMU)
- BLE for phone + headband
- Haptic drivers for belt motors
- Li-ion charging + regulation

Head PCB Includes:
- BLE SoC (e.g., nRF52832/ESP32-C3-Mini)
- 8 motor drivers (directional)
- Optional ToF
- Small battery or connector

**4. Criterion for Success**
Safety
- Detect bikes/scooters ≥ 5 m away with ≥90% recall
- Head direction correctness ≥90%
- Alert latency ≤250 ms
- Dual-plane sensing reduces occlusion misses ≥30%

Navigation
- Turn accuracy using belly haptics ≥85%
- Heading deviation during “straight” ≤10°
- Navigation update latency ≤200 ms

Channel Separation
- Head = hazard, belly = navigation
- User classification accuracy (hazard vs nav) ≥90%

Usability
- Battery life ≥4 hours
- Total mass ≤350 g (head ≤150 g)

BarPro Weightlifting Aid Device

Patrick Fejkiel, Grzegorz Gruba, Kevin Mienta

Featured Project

Patrick Fejkiel (pfejki2), Kevin Mienta (kmient2), Grzegorz Gruba (ggruba2)

Title: BarPro

Problem: Many beginner weightlifters struggle with keeping the barbell level during lifts. Even seasoned weightlifters find their barbells swaying to one side sometimes. During heavy lifts, many people also struggle with full movements after a few repetitions.

Solution Overview: BarPro is a device that straps on to a barbell and aids the lifter with keeping the barbell level, maintaining full repetitions and keeping track of reps/sets. It keeps track of the level of the barbell and notifies the lifter with a sound to correct the barbell positioning when not level. The lifter can use the device to calibrate their full movement of the repetition before adding weight so that when heavy weight is applied, the device will use data from the initial repetition to notify the lifter with a sound if they are not lifting or lowering the barbell all the way during their lift. There will be an LCD screen or LEDs showing the lifter the amount of repetitions/sets that they have completed.

Solution Components:

Subsystem #1 - Level Sensor: An accelerometer will be used to measure the level of the barbell. If an unlevel position is measured, a speaker will beep and notify the lifter.

Subsystem #2 - Full Repetition Sensor: An ultrasonic or infrared distance sensor will be used to measure the height of the barbell from the ground/body during repetitions. The sensor will first be calibrated by the lifter during a repetition with no weight, and then that calibration will be used to check if the lifter is having their barbell reach the calibrated maximum and minimum heights.

Subsystem #3 - LED/LCD Rep/Sets Indicator: LEDs or a LCD screen will be used to display the reps/sets from the data measured by the accelerometer.

Criterion for Success: Our device needs to be user friendly and easily attachable to the barbell. It needs to notify the lifter with sounds and LEDs/LCD display when their barbell is not level, when their movements are not fully complete, and the amount of reps/sets they have completed. The device needs to work smoothly, and testing/calibrating will need to be performed to determine the minimum/maximum values for level and movement positioning.