What simply occurred? A playful Houston canine named Kunde impressed a bunch of Rice College engineering college students to deal with a problem confronted by numerous pets: how one can assist blind canine discover their world with out worry or frustration. Their reply is a high-tech vest that might quickly provide new independence to visually impaired animals – with out the discomfort of conventional aids.
The venture started when Kunde’s house owners, Grant Belton and AJ Value, reached out to Rice College’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, hoping for a answer that might let their canine, who misplaced his imaginative and prescient to glaucoma, transfer freely and safely.
4 college students – Adam Vuong, Cristiana De Sousa, Issy Tsai, and Santiago Brent – took on the problem, calling themselves Kunde’s Pals.
As a substitute of counting on bumping into obstacles for suggestions, the workforce designed a light-weight vest that makes use of vibrations to alert the canine when one thing is in the way in which. The vest is provided with linear resonant actuator motors, the identical sort utilized in many wearable gadgets and smartphones, which vibrate at various strengths and places relying on the proximity and nature of an impediment.
Mounted close to the canine’s head are stereoscopic cameras that seize depth info in actual time. This knowledge is processed by a custom-printed circuit board and a vision-processing laptop, which then triggers the suitable vibration on the vest.
“Type of like giving Kunde a second set of eyes, the cameras create a depth map,” defined Tsai, the freshman electrical engineering main who designed the vest’s motor management system. “The nearer an impediment is, the stronger the vibration on that aspect of the vest.”
The important thing was growing a tool that was snug, sturdy, and efficient. The workforce needed to home delicate electronics in a means that would not overheat or weigh Kunde down, all whereas ensuring the vest might stand up to play and Houston’s sizzling, humid climate. “We had to determine how one can embed electronics right into a wearable vest that is breathable, mushy and rugged sufficient for a canine who likes to play,” stated De Sousa, a junior mechanical engineering scholar. “It was an actual train in inventive problem-solving.”
The venture drew on a variety of expertise. Brent, a junior electrical engineering main, led the stereo imaging and knowledge processing work, whereas Vuong and De Sousa centered on integrating the programs and designing the bodily vest. Tsai made positive the vibration motors labored effectively with out making the vest cumbersome.
Wearable haptic know-how is a rising discipline at Rice, with functions that reach past aiding canine. The workforce’s choice to make use of open-source machine studying and reasonably priced electronics not solely made the vest accessible but in addition laid the groundwork for future adaptation. By counting on broadly obtainable elements and software program, their design might be simply scaled or modified for different functions.
This strategy opens the door to broader makes use of, resembling wearable rehabilitation gadgets for individuals, the place related know-how might present real-time suggestions and help with therapeutic workouts. “This venture exhibits that with the proper mixture of low-power sensors and haptic suggestions, it’s potential to supply real-time spatial steering in a light-weight, unobtrusive means,” stated Brent.
Kunde remains to be testing the newest model of the vest, which the workforce hopes will cut back collisions and provides him extra freedom. The prototype presently has a variety of as much as eight meters and a battery lifetime of about two hours. The scholars offered their work on the 2025 Huff OEDK Showcase and competitors in April.
