VOL. 12, NO. 10, MAY 2017 ISSN 1819-6608 ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences © 2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved. www.arpnjournals.com 3266 DEVELOPMENT OF ARDUINO SMART CLOTHES HANGER EMBEDDED SYSTEM FOR DISABLED Zulzilawati Jusoh, Hasnorhafiza Husni and Hajar Ja’afar Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia E-Mail: zulzi5352@tganu.uitm.edu.my ABSTRACT Daily household chores may not be an issue for a normal and young individual. However, it could be a big issue for those people who have physical limitations such as aged and disabled people (e.g.: wheelchair-bounded individual). Inventions of assistive device or technologies that can help them to perform their daily activities are very crucial for them, so that they can become more independent hence increase their self-confidence. One of the daily chores is laundry activity. Thus, a Smart Cloth Hanger for Disabled using Arduino Embedded System is proposed in this paper specifically to cater the needs of disabled individuals. This device can automatically push out the hanger during sunny day and reversely pull it in during rainy day. Other than that, it also has the function of moving the hanger vertically (up and down) to make it easy for the disabled individuals especially those who are wheelchair-bounded to hang and retrieve their clothes. This projects use Atmega328P-PU to install all coding program that will give instructions to conduct this system properly. Voltage regulator LM7805 is also used to regulate the supply at 5V. Several sensors are used in this project, such as rain sensors and Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) sensors. Other than that, DPDT switch is also used to connect with the secondary motor in order to move the hanger vertically. It is hoped that the device can assist the disabled for a better quality of life and further increase their sense of independence. Keywords: assistive device, smart hanger, rain sensor, LDR, IC ATmega328P-PU, LM7805, DPDT switch. INTRODUCTION Assistive devices and technologies are those whose primary purpose is to maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence to facilitate participation and to enhance overall wellbeing [1-4]. Well- designed high quality assistive devices or daily living aids that support independent living for the handicapped and disabled, seniors or those with a medical condition or injury should make life easier and safer for these people (aged and disabled). Examples of assistive devices and technologies include wheelchairs, prostheses, hearings aids, visual aids and specialized computer software and hardware that increase mobility, hearing, vision or communication capacities. In many low-income and middle-income countries, only 5-15% of people who require assistive devices and technologies have access to them [2-3]. Furthermore, the availability of assistive devices for the disabled individual is still limited. One of the types of assistive devices that is still lacking are household chore assistive devices. More inventions of household assistive devices will definitely help disabled individuals to improve their quality of life [5-6]. With the current uncertain weather phenomenon, it is difficult to find a perfect timing for drying out clothes. Thus, it is essential to have a system that can help the aged and disabled individuals to independently do their laundry. An ideal system would be a system where the height of the hanger can be adjusted according to their ability and a system, which will automatically retrieve the clothes if it suddenly rain. As an example, a wheelchair-bounded individual will find it difficult to hang his or her own clothes with the existing traditional method. Thus, having a system which has a hanger that can be moved vertically will definitely help them. Furthermore, they do not need to pick up their clothes in a hurry if it suddenly raining with the proposed system as mentioned above. Not only it will help them in their daily household chore activity, but this system will also minimize the risk of them to be exposed to unnecessary injuries. Very few inventions related to cloth hanger or cloth-drying mechanism meant for disabled individuals have been proposed and patented. In 1986, Todd Brickhouse has patented a cloth hanger, which was designed for handicapped persons. This cloth hanger is provided with a U-shaped handle portion extending downwardly to enable the usage of the hanger in a conventional closet. It was designed especially for handicapped individuals confined to a wheelchair, who cannot easily reach the bar in an ordinary clothes closet for the purpose of hanging up clothes [7]. As for the studies on the needs of assistive devices for disabled persons, in [8] discussed on the need and solutions of home automation device and service robots for elderly and disabled individuals. Based on their studies, the respondents were more interested in accessible living in general. As for particular features, aids for mobility and lifting were the most important feature for them followed by aids and feature for other household and communication activities. There were also some robot based assistive devices being proposed for disabled persons. As an example, in [9] presented a manipulator service robot for disabled and elderly. The robot itself is an arm that has control electronics built in. The arm is a separate unit that can be connected to sockets in different locations (wheel chair, kitchen wall or bedroom ceiling) for operation. The robot gets its power through the socket. It is a lightweight autonomous service robot for disabled and elderly people to help in their daily living environment. Other than that, in [10] proposed the use of remote controlled service robot