Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
18 "Extended Reach": Echolocation Sensor
 Kyle Spesard
Matthew Lurie
 appendix0.pdf
design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
presentation0.presentation
proposal0.pdf
Our project is to create an echolocation sensor using ultrasonic waves that can determine the characteristics of a room or objects in front of the sensor and output that information to the user. The device outputs an ultrasonic chirp through an ultrasonic transducer. The reflected signal is received through another ultrasonic transducer and relayed through amplification, filtering, and offset circuitry to an ST Discovery dsp board. The dsp is used to complete calculations for obtaining the information about the room/object from the chirp impulse response. Characteristics such as distance between the object and the sensor and shape of the object are sent out through a serial link.

This is a sister-project to the "Extended Reach" Haptic Array. The final goal is to combine this sensor with the haptic array to create a new sensory experience that would allow someone to locate objects in a room without the use of sight--something that would be great for blind people. A potential application for this technology would be within a blind user's cane, where the user can inobtrusively "feel" his environment.

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.