To be aware of obstacles on his left

 
A middle aged man with brown hair and a pink shirt looking on his left and laughing.
 

About Alexandre

My name is Alexandre Buchs, I am a former accountant, passionate about computers. I am 53 years old, I live in Foyer Handicap following a stroke I had in 2016. I have hemiplegia on my left side with hemineglect on the same side.

I use a manual wheelchair and for the past few months I have also had an electric wheelchair. I enjoy getting around with this new wheelchair as it gives me more independence. 

Challenge

I am asking you to participate in my beeper project for the left side of my electric wheelchair, because since my stroke I have left-sided hemineglect (the brain can no longer react to information from the left side). I have been using an electric wheelchair for a few months now and I have had two or three bad experiences on my left side. I've run into construction barriers, hit lampposts on my left and almost hit a car. To avoid an accident, I would really need a system that warns me of objects on my left.

 
 

Solution

The team developed a system in several parts: a depth camera to detect obstacles when they are too close, ultrasons to detect low obstacles and doors, earpods to stimulate and help Alexandre turn his head to the left, and a Raspberry pi to coordinate the detection and the stimulation.

 

Alexandre’s team testing their prototype. Alexandre, an electric wheelchair user, is moving forward in his wheelchair. A person walks in front of him on his left. At this moment Alexandre raises his hand, meaning that he got the information through.