Arduino

While we've looked at a couple of efforts to upgrade the humble white cane's capabilities, such as the ultrasonic Ultracane and the laser scanning cane, the decidedly low tech white cane is still one of the most commonly used tools to help the visually impaired get around without bumping into things. Now, through their project called NAVI (Navigation Aids for the Visually Impaired), students at Germany's Universität Konstanz have leveraged the 3D imaging capabilities of Microsoft's Kinect camera to detect objects that lie outside a cane's small radius and alert the wearer to the location of obstacles through audio and vibro-tactile feedback. Read More

Would-be Liberaces could soon be wearing a keyboard on their hands in the form of the Piano Gloves. Created by Scott Garner, the prototype gloves let the wearer play a piano on any surface via buttons on the tips of the fingers. Audio is processed via an Arduino microcontroller wired to the buttons and presently the software can be set to play a major scale or ten semitones, which would limit the gloves to playing tunes comprised of ten or less notes, but Scott is looking at ways to expand the repertoire. Read More

On display at the Tokyo Make Meeting this past Saturday was Beatfly, a cleverly designed illuminated blimp created by Hideki Yoshimoto. Rather than just implement simple radio controls, he has playfully given Beatfly a number of control interfaces. You can drive it by iPhone, MIDI controller, Flash web interface, a standard keyboard, voice control, or even music. Read More

Zi Ye and Hammad Khalid from the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Canada have created a truly flexible, portable gaming interface called Project Cobra. Users of the system interact with images projected onto a handheld board by physically bending and twisting sections or applying pressure to areas containing sensors. Read More

Everyone at one time or another has cranked out a beat by slapping their hands on their thighs. One person who obviously feels the rhythm deep in his soul is software designer Boris Smus, who has taken thigh slapping high-tech with his Ubiquitous Drum Pant DIY project that turns an ordinary pair of jeans into a drum kit. Read More