Session T3G 978-1-4244-4714-5/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE October 18 - 21, 2009, San Antonio, TX 39 th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference T3G-1 Work in Progress - Description of a Service Learning Project to Design Assistive Technologies to Aid the Visually-Impaired in India Raymond Slowik, Mohan Krishnan, Prasad Venugopal, Sandra A. Yost, Shuvra Das University of Detroit Mercy slowikrg@students.udmercy.edu, mohank@udmercy.edu, venugoep@udmercy.edu yostsa@udmercy.edu, dass@udmercy.edu Abstract - Cultural practices in India that dictate that individuals remove their footwear before entering homes and places of worship creates a challenge for visually- impaired people in identifying and collecting their footwear as they leave. This paper describes an interdisciplinary service-learning project, involving students in Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Mechanical Engineering (ME) programs, whose goal is to design and develop assistive technologies to help ameliorate this situation. The paper outlines the relevant technological issues in this project, and discusses how this research might be incorporated into the existing pedagogical structure of both programs. Index Terms - Assistive technologies, interdisciplinary project, service learning, social entrepreneurship. INTRODUCTION It is common practice for people in India to remove their footwear when entering public places such as offices, places of worship, classrooms, etc and even private residences of family and friends. A typical instance of this practice is shown in Figure 1, from which it is evident that the process of independently recovering one’s footwear when leaving such places can be a tremendous challenge for a visually impaired person. It often requires feeling and touching multiple pairs of footwear, sometimes performed on hands and knees, in order to identify one’s own pair. Such tactile contact with footwear, besides being unhygienic, is considered to be a socially demeaning practice in India. Figure 1: Pile of footwear It is the aim of this project to design prototypical devices that could assist visually impaired individuals in locating their footwear through electronic means. Our goal is to design a device that is integrated into a normal cane and that allows for communication between the cane and complementary devices on a pair of footwear. While the underlying concept is electrical in nature (based on radio frequency identification technology), significant interdisciplinary challenges associated with the project include the development of a viable product prototype, as well as entrepreneurial aspects of manufacturing the product, which are typical issues encountered in innovation and entrepreneurship programs. Additionally, the project provides a meaningful and rewarding linkage to the service learning aspects of engineering programs, and fits in with the widely-felt need in engineering disciplines to be seen as gateways to professions that serve society, and that attract diverse talent. TECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES Selection criteria for the technology and the components to be employed in the design of these assistive devices were based on the following four important factors: (1) Maximum detection distance; (2) Low maintenance and cost requirements; (3) Low power consumption; and (4) Minimum size/weight of device attachment. Based on these factors, we have determined that the optimal technology to use would be a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system [1]. Such systems consist of an Interrogator and a small Tag - an electronic circuit embedded within a coil antenna, which can be permanently mounted to an article or location – that communicate with each other using radio frequency signals. The Tag comes in two formats: active tags which require a power source, or passive tags which reradiate the signal power that they receive from the Interrogator. Each Tag has a unique identifying number (ID) which can be read and uniquely identified by the Interrogator. The Interrogators are radio frequency transceivers which activate tags within their range and decode the resultant tag ID, reporting information regarding the Tag through appropriate signals. The Tags are durable, low cost devices which can be designed to be easily taped or inserted into the sole or sidewall of sandals and slippers by a visually-impaired