Help me with device for running blind man

[Arron]

blind man running

Hello,
I'm helping out a blind man who likes to sprint. What he needs is a device that tells him how fast he is running and makes sure he is running in the right direction.
What I have planned on the direction side are two vibrating motors connected to either hand which turn on if he is going too far to the left/right accordingly. I get the direction from a compass ( so someone needs to be with him initially to set the direction). I will also have a spoken interface text-synthesis chip hooked up to an 8052.
The problem I am now facing is speed and distance measurement. Remember he is sprinting so can't really have anything trailing behind him on wheels unless absolutely necessary.
Any ideas?

-thanks, arron

 

[XNOX_Rambo]

Re: blind man running

The Finnish company Polar has products that do this and you can probably
interface your equipment to theirs. At least it could give you some ideas.

http://www.polar.fi/polar/channels/eng/segments/Running.html

/Rambo

 

[Arron]

Re: blind man running

thanks ... how do they work?

 

[puviarasu]

Re: blind man running

this links may help you out

h**p:www.aositilt.com/
h**p://www.analog.com/en/cat/0,2878,764,00.html
h**p://www.ssec.honeywell.com/magnetic/new/20020923-1055.html
h**p://www.robot-electronics.co.uk/htm/cmpsqa.shtml
h**p://www.fatquarterssoftware.com/Download/scl004.htm
h**p://www.pacificsites.com/~brooke/Sensors.shtml#Magnetic

Regards
Puviarasu

 

[XNOX_Rambo]

Re: blind man running

This is what Polar says about their sensor, so it seems pretty advanced:

Q: GPS technology is considered advanced by many. What about the Polar inertial sensor technology that Polar uses?

• The inertial technology that Polar uses is very advanced, inertial technology is used in aerospace positioning and guidance systems, industrial robotics and in advanced automotive applications such as active suspensions and emergency airbag deployment to name a few

• The inertial sensors measure the acceleration of the S1 foot pod more than 1000 times per second and use this data with advanced algorithms to calculate foot angles and gait velocity

• The Polar S1 running speed and distance sensor is NOT A PEDOMETER. Instead, it is very advanced running speed sensor.

 

[Arron]

Re: blind man running

okay, so i talked to a friend of mine about this and it isn't actually as complicated as Polar makes it out to be (or has made it to be).
Apparently a mesurement of
½ a \[\times\] t²
where a = acceleration and t=time
gives distance. Then d/t.
Can anyone confirm this? I'm thinking microaccelerometer.

thanks for your help.

EDIT:
**broken link removed**
is exacty what I'm looking for. It would be interesting to see the accuracy of that device. And how sensitive it would be to being bumped around while running.

 

[XNOX_Rambo]

Re: blind man running

Yes, companies tend to make things sound like rocket science... :wink:

I guess that you need a two-axis acceleration chip to calculate a resultant vector.
Anyhow, I found a company that sells foot pods - buying one is the easiest way to go:
http://www.fitsense.com/shop.asp