Design Engineering— Brown University

Designed as an assistive technology device for people who are blind/visually impaired, ‘Paas’ (Urdu word for near) is an ergonomic, handheld navigational tool that relates distance to vibration motors to alert the user when something is nearby.

Through vibrations that are proportional to the distance of the object, Paas empowers the visually impaired user with a greater understanding of their physical environment. We ideated/modeled/prototyped navigational tools that ranged from an environmentally-changing handheld device run by actuator motors to haptic feedback gloves, and everything in between. A large consideration for us was activating the tactile world around us– a world highlighted by the inherent needs of someone who is visually impaired. We arrived at Paas, taking into account the initial problem/situation that we sought out to solve while emphasizing our evolution of design consideration, learned arduino/microcontroller knowledge, and user input in terms of adapting a functional device onto the organic lines of the human body.

3D printed PLA plastic filament, Adafruit ToF Distance sensor, coin vibration motor, ESP 32 Arduino board

-Project collaboration with Sarosh Nadeem