With the power of the revolutionary 1Sheeld in hand, Maker Amr Wasfy decided to put this technology to good use by developing a navigation device for the visually impaired.
Integreight’s 1Sheeld – powered by an ATmega162 MCU – is an easily configurable shield for Arduino boards.
As its Kickstarter page noted, the sky really is the limit when it comes to the shield’s possibilities. Wasfy has partnered the 1Sheeld with an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and a pair of ultrasonic sensors. He mounted the sensors to a belt and then created an enclosure for both the Arduino and the 1Sheeld.
In practice, the two sensors alert the user when the distance in front of them is less than 30 centimeters. When the distance is less than the desired range, the device notifies the user to rotate until the path in front of them is clear for greater than 30 centimeters.
Wasfy used two sensors, which the Maker notes was for better quality and wide range coverage. “There is a function that compares between the two readings of the sensors and takes the decision based on that.”
For a detailed step-by-step breakdown of the Maker’s build, head to his Instructables tutorial here.
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 
Amazing that some random hacker just whipped something together that could quite feasibly do more for the blind community than the research of who-knows-how-many-scientists for the past ?? decades. Well done!
I would love to see this in practice, in a more real-world setting and not just an apartment.
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