2004 Botball Website Team
Brenda Duong
Syed Hashmi
Anh Hoang
Omar Nachawati
Michael Samson

For more information regarding assistive robotics and blind driving, refer to our bibliography page.

 

Solutions to Problems

 

See again::::::::::::::

 

A lot has to be done in order to make robotic technology applicable to the solving of the problem to make people who are visually impaired to gain vision. Robotic technologies are associated with many fields in the subject, so it is extremely important that there is a through coordination between many different types of technologies in order to make sure that the quandary has been effectively solved. There are numerous factors, which to mention, are a rigid challenge to unravel the stalling of this technology.

 

Many different factors are related to each other and this promotes the obligation of making sure that all equipment used to solve visual impairment are successful to accomplish the objective of this research: to erase the disability, and virtually as much as possible. People who are blind are the one’s who are facing the most difficulty, not only in our society but also increasingly throughout undeveloped countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of surgery and other methods of correcting it are exceeding expensive and are not available in third-world countries.

 

Making it possible to deliver technology at significantly reduced costs can help more disabled people throughout the world, whom all deserve to be benefit, to receive as much as present technology would provide. Reducing the size of transistors and other components in semiconductor technology can make it possible to produce significantly smaller electrical components and circuits, which could possibly make a visually impaired patient’s equipment be less or totally unseen. Developing many alternative sources of generating electrical energy can help empower the eradication of solving the problem of visually impairment.

 

Implanting millions of solar chips in one’s body, such as hands, arms, feet and even into one’s head can help produce electricity through solar means. Also, by making bio-chemical systems that react with nutrients or chemical reactions in the body to produce electricity could be supportive. By gathering electrical energy in the above mention ways could help make it possible to eliminate the use of disposable batteries or ever to change batteries again. Also, by implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the system that is used to power vision, memory modules could be generated and processed by the system’s processor to provide feedback to a logic unit (inside the processor and/or other components) so as to promote sustainable correction/improvement as the processor would learn more about the person more specifically. This would help this assistive technology to be more ‘personalized’ to the person. Incorporating more work of programmers, based on a strong synchronization among calculations and logical decision making, can help to produce more logical scripts, which would ultimately result better results and overcoming the most neglected obstacle of a selected disability: vision.

 

 

The implementation of the usage of many different sensors, ultraviolet, magnetic, infra red could relay the information that is supposedly to be collected by one’s eyes through a newly, revolutionary developed optical fibers connected to one’s brain. These fibers should also be significantly reduced in size (like the ones used today) by developing manufacturing equipment that produces such products with greater sophistication, enabling such things to be ‘miniaturized’. Making cost effective solutions to address the possible solution of this disability are critical to the material used, and even the machinery used in the process, which must be up to the standard demanded by the above proposed clarification for solving this complex labyrinth.

 

Also, making it possible that the next installed robotic device in a visually impaired patient would transmit wireless signals, which could be implemented and analyzed further by optical doctors, technicians and other people related to the field to implement different customizations to settings, whether to add changes (e.g. new scripts or codes for the hardware to perform a better job), edit settings and apply whatever technologies arise further ahead in the future to make sure that it is possible to upgrade the system of such a patient when the opportunity arises.

 

To Drive:::::::::

 

Driving is yet another challenge to be solved. So far, it appears that assistive robotics technology in this sector is seriously neglected. There is not enough facilities in cars for people with disabilities, especially the visually impaired. Artificial Intelligence has proved to be some what effective, but usually limited to people or governments who can afford it. The current state is that Global Positioning Systems (GPS) can only be seen visually on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), but not control a car effectively to make it completely ‘automatic’. Being automatic means that cars will eventually become totally under the control of a computer in a car, to perform a wide variety of functions. Car companies and research development centers should start concentrating developing cost effective, yet highly effective technologies to eliminate the requirement of reasonable vision for driving. Not only Global Positioning Systems (GPS) should coordinate with the computer of a car, but to thoroughly make it possible not to have a driving wheel or accelerator to prove to possibly be the most effective contribution to the visually impaired: to make them more independent and be able to get around places by means of driving.

 

The car, being controlled by a computer that uses feedback-processing technology via satellite, can make it possible to type out the destination on a laptop or a computer in a car or even possible speech recognition systems can process the input data from the traveler, and automatically guide the car to safely reach its destination.

 

Having such a processing system that uses real-time communication and processing can help the significant reduction of any automobile catastrophe on the road and car accident rates would be reduced extensively. For example, employing this assistive technology will ensure that all traffic laws would be obeyed. However, if any system in a car malfunctions, an appropriate service center will be notified that the system is malfunctioning and needs to be inspected. Also, as there would be a two-way communication in this highly integrated assistive system, if there is no 2 way communication, it must mean that the GPS system of the vehicle has malfunctioned, making it possible for the service company to contact the person in authority of the car.

 

Proving to be the best possible miracle for the disable, the above ideas truly give the visually impaired a prospect to live a more contented life.