International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET), INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS AND ISSN 0976

6464(Print), ISSN 0976 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), IAEME

COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (IJECET)

ISSN 0976 6464(Print) ISSN 0976 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August, 2013, pp. 36-41 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijecet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.8896 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJECET
IAEME

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A DATA GLOVE FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED
Parth Ranjan Singh, PrathiShastry, Jagadish D. Kini, FarzadTaheri Guided by T.G.Giri Kumar M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Electrical & Electronics Engineering department, Bangalore-560054

ABSTRACT This project provides a mechanism for controlling wheelchair and home appliances for physically disabled people by way of movement of fingers. A person suffering from paralysis or any serious injury may not be able to move around and accomplish simple tasks such as switching on/off tube-lights, fans etc. A helper maybe required to be present with the patient at all times. Our project serves the purpose of making the patient selfsufficient and devices an easy way for him to go about his work. The device is a convenient, flexible and reliable mechanism to help the patient control a wheelchair-motion. It also includes a mechanism to control various appliances. A hand glove fitted with flex sensors is worn by the patient. Just by bending his fingers, he can switch on/off appliances and also control his wheelchair movement. Also, the entire setup is wireless and therefore gives the patient control over appliances in a 30m radius. Keywords: Flex Sensor, X Bee, Wireless, Arduino, H-Bridge, motor control. 1. INTRODUCTION The Gooses story by Cari Best was a story that touched our heart, when we read it for the first time as a kindergartener. The struggle for a physically challenged goose in the story mirrors the scene around us where the disabled were incapable of performing their daily routine tasks that are thought normal and easy to do by others. The preexisting technologies are insufficient or too cumbersome for a challenged person to operate easily. The voice recognizing control of wheel chair being the easiest to master but the cost of it easily surpasses all its benefits. The other control mechanisms of the wheelchair being tongue operated or joystick controller are too difficult to manage.
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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET), ISSN 0976 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), IAEME

This made necessary of development of a control device which is easy to master, cheap and portable. The paper introduces with construction of a mechanism using the bending of flex sensors to control the wheel chair motion and which can be further added upon by adding modules like emergency call system or appliance control wherever necessary. 2. THE BLOCK DIAGRAM

Fig 1: Block Diagram 3. COMPONENTS Flex sensors It is a variable printed resistor on a thin flexible substrate. When the substrate is bent, the sensor produces a resistance output correlated to the bend radiusthe smaller the radius, the higher the resistance value.

Fig 2: Flex Sensor

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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET), ISSN 0976 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), IAEME

ARDUINO Arduino is a popular open-source single-boar microcontroller, descendant of the open-source Wiring platform, designed to make the process of using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible. The hardware consists of a simple open hardware design for the Arduino board with an Atmel AVR processor and on-board input/output support. The software consists of a standard programming language compiler and the boot loader that runs on the board in Fig 3. Arduino hardware is programmed using a Wiring-based language (syntax and libraries), similar to C++ with some simplifications and modifications, and a Processingbased integrated development environment.

Fig 3 :Arduino board XBee/ZigBee XBee/ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols. It uses small, low-power digital radios based on an IEEE 802 standard for personal area networks. It is simpler, less expensive and covers more area than other WPANs, such as Bluetooth. It targets radio-frequency (RF) applications requiring a low data rate, long battery life, and secure networking. It has a defined rate of 250 kbps best suited for a single signal transmission from a sensor or input device. AXbee pro module is shown in Fig 4.

Fig 4: XBee Pro

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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET), ISSN 0976 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), IAEME

H-BRIDGE An h-bridge is an electronic circuit that enables a voltage to be applied across a load in either direction. These circuits are often used in robotics and other applications to allow DC motors to run forwards and backwards [2]. H bridges are available as integrated circuits, or can be built from discrete components. An H bridge is built with four switches (solid-state or mechanical). When the switches S1 and S4 (according to the Fig 4) are closed (and S2 and S3 are open) a positive voltage will be applied across the motor. By opening S1 and S4 switches and closing S2 and S3 switches, this voltage is reversed, allowing reverse operation of the motor. Using the nomenclature above, the switches S1 and S2 should never be closed at the same time, as this would cause a short circuit on the input voltage source. The same applies to the switches S3 and S4. This condition is known as shoot-through.

Fig 5. H Bridge

Fig 6

Fig 7

The H-bridge arrangement is generally used to reverse the polarity of the motor, but can also be used to 'brake' the motor, where the motor comes to a sudden stop, as the motor's terminals are shorted, or to let the motor 'free run' to a stop, as the motor is effectively disconnected from the circuit. The following table summarizes operation, with S1-S4 corresponding to the two operating modes can be represented as in Fig 6 switches S2 and S3 are open and hence the motor rotates left. While in Figure 7 when switches S1 and S4 are open the motor rotates in the opposite direction. Fig 5 shows the actual picture of Hbridge. We have used the L293D chip in the Hbridge supposed to drive the motor

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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET), ISSN 0976 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), IAEME

Fig 8: H-bridge Driver Chip L293D Relays A relay is a switch which is operated by electricity .It is usually electromagnetic device. When a small trigger voltage is applied to a relay, power supply to the device is switched on. When the trigger voltage is removed, the power supply for the device is also cut off. Some relays can be triggered directly by a microcontroller output. 4. ADVANTAGES No need for a person to remain with the patient at all times Can also be used for patients paralyzed neck down (who cant even use their fingers), by simply replacing the hand glove with a head mask Additional functions like sounding an alarm etc. can be added easily. ZigBee covers more distance compared to transmission using IR rays (which is used in remote controls) Easy to use Cost effective

5. CONCLUSION Our prototype adheres to all afore mentioned specifications. Test results indicate that the sensor is not too sensitive to the input which means that the probability of the user unintentionally triggering the device is very low. 6. REFERENCES [1] Towards a Body Sensor Network - based gesture interface for intelligent home applications dated AUG 2009 V-risJaijongrak ; Chantasuban, S. ; Thiemjarus, S. ; School of Information, Computer & Communication Technolgy (ICT), Thammasat Univ., PathumThani, Thailand, ICCAS-SICE, 2009
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International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET), ISSN 0976 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), IAEME

[2] Design and development of a hand-glove controlled wheel chair dated May 2011 Akmeliawati, R.; Tis, F.S.B.; Wani, U.J.; Dept. of Mechatronics Eng., Int. Islamic Univ. Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,Mechatronics (ICOM), 2011 [3] Arduino.cc [4] Information on flex sensors from http://www.imagesco.com/sensors/flex-sensor&http://devices.sapp.org/component/flex/ [5] Nazrul H. Adnan, Khairunizam Wan, Shariman Ab and Juliana A. Abu Bakar, Principal Component Analysis for the Classification of Fingers Movement Data Using Dataglove Glovemap, International journal of Computer Engineering & Technology (IJCET), Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 79 - 93, ISSN Print: 0976 6367, ISSN Online: 0976 6375. [6] Neeraj Tiwari, D. Bhagwan Das and Prabal Pratap Singh, Design, Development and Hardware Realization of X-BEE based Single Axis Solar Tracking System, International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology (IJEET), Volume 3, Issue 3, 2012, pp. 8 - 20, ISSN Print : 0976-6545, ISSN Online: 0976-6553. [7] Vinesh Kapadia and Dr. Hina Chandwani, Comparison of Modulation Techniques for Cascaded H-Bridge Type Multilevel Current Source Inverter, International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering & Technology (IJARET), Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 181 - 190, ISSN Print: 0976-6480, ISSN Online: 0976-6499. 7. AUTHORS [1]Parth Ranjan Singh, B.E., [2] PrathiShastry, B.E., [3] Jagadish D Kini, B.E., [4] FarzadTaheri, B.E.,

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