Arash Nouri / Computation Studio / Winter 2023

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<aside> ℹ️ Revisions made in this project will be marked one of three ways in this document:

• Title will have v2 added to the end
• Specific item that has been revised will be highlighted

<aside> 📜 Revisions will be summarized inside a callout block like this one

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Table of contents

Schedule & Milestones

• Initial schedule was mostly accurate, although estimates on the start date of certain stages like prototyping & testing were off by about one week
• Scope has been adjusted in order to more realistically adhere to a revised schedule
  • Prototyping criteria has been broadened to include more easily-accessible materials such as polymer clay instead of complete reliance on 3D-printing
  • User testing requirements have been loosened to include sighted users if necessary
  • New project deliverables have been defined in
• Either Raspberry Pi or ESP32 will be used moving forward to accomplish the physical computing requirements, with assistance from faculty experts such as Doug Whitton, Steve Hudak, Katlin Walsh, & Myles Bartlett

User Testing

• An existing & lightweight computer vision library will be used to enable the functionality of the electronics
  • Labels will be placed on objects that correspond to data within the library (e.g. doors will be marked with a photo of a banana, chairs will be marked with a photo of an orange)
  • This not only cuts down on the time required to get computer vision up and running for testing purposes, but it also makes it straightforward to rearrange the layout of the testing space and conduct secondary tests
• Testing will take place in an indoors setting akin to a workplace (e.g. J wing labs)
  • This limits the scope of the demo and collects data that answers basic questions that need to be answered through user testing such as:
    • Is the device able to recognize all the objects/obstacles the user needs?
    • Is the user able to navigate a familiar space more efficiently using this device?
    • Does the device impede their usual experience with the mobility cane?
• Sighted users will be approached for testing alongside blind users
  • Sighted users will be made to simulate loss of vision during tests by wearing a blindfold
  • Every other element of the tests will remain the same

Ethics

TCPS 2: CORE Certificate