Team Name
VibeTracked
Timeline
Fall 2021 – Spring 2022
Students
- Katie Baumann
- Matthew Blount
- Xavier Holliday
- Vinson Mach
- Lauren Skinner
- Paul Zhi
Sponsor
Dr. Conly
Abstract
Cerberus is a wireless wrist module system that notifies deaf or hard of hearing individuals of events happening around them. The Cerberus system must be used in conjunction with the Ring system. The wearer of the wrist module will be notified via vibration. The vibration signals them to check their phone to see the event description of what triggered the vibration. Additionally the user can create custom vibration patterns for different event types. The event notification will be displayed through the Cerberus phone app. Our phone app communicates with our server, which is in communication with the Ring system to receive notice of events. Events from the Ring system include when the doorbell is rung and the door or window opening. The wristband also provides functionality to notify the wearer via LED lights of the current noise level around them.
Background
What happens when someone that is hard of hearing is at home and their doorbell is rung? If this person doesn’t have any doorbell aids, they won’t be able to answer the door and miss whoever is there. There is a large market in developing products and services that will add convenience to peoples lives. There lies an opportunity to create products that would aid people with disabilities such as people with deafness or hearing loss. Here at VibeTracked, we aim to create a product that can help people that are hard of hearing by developing a Bluetooth capable wristband that will vibrate when the user’s doorbell is rung as well as other features. Over many iterations, we hope to add more features to this product that will help the user in many ways.
Our sponsor Dr. Conly has experience working with projects that directly involve the deaf community throughout his academic career. The relationship between VibeTracked and Dr. Conly stemmed from the team members finding out about Dr. Conly through his projects with the deaf community as well as Dr. Gieser recommending him to the team. Dr. Conly agreed to become the sponsor to VibeTracked’s project after hearing about the team’s project and how it involved the deaf community. Through the initial meeting with Dr. Conley and the team members, the two parties have discussed and exchanged various ideas, features, and development paths to take concerning the project. By the end of the development cycle, we hope to have a product that will do many various things that can help enrich the home environment and aid people that are hard of hearing.
Project Requirements
- Wristband vibrates on event occurrence
- Wristband vibrates on door open
- Wristband vibrates on window open
- Wristband is connected to phone over Bluetooth
- Application connects to internet
- Set notification settings within the app
- App may silence notification
- App tells which window/door is open
- Can set different/custom vibration settings with app
- Users must register an account with the application
System Overview
The server connects with the Ring System layer and the phone is connected to the server. The phone then connects to the wrist module via Bluetooth and sends the alert.
At a high level, the server polls Ring for events, and when triggered, it sends a notification to the phone. Our wrist module will then receive notifications via Bluetooth, and alert the wearer via vibration as to what had occurred. Different vibration patterns will be allowed to signal the type of occurrence.
Additionally, an audio sensor takes input about the noise level around them. When the noise level is high, the LED is red, medium, yellow, and low, green.
Results
Demonstration of wristband and ring system (link)
Demonstration of audio sensor (link)
Future Work
A future priority of VibeTracked’s is to create our own security system to use with the Cerberus wristband so there is no use of third party hardware. In addition, making the app available for IOS so a wider customer base can be served is another future task. Allowing signals to be sent over WiFi when the bluetooth connection is disconnected or out of range is VibeTracked’s third future priority. Finally, implementing fire alarm alerts is VibeTracked’s final future task.
Project Files
Project Charter (link)
System Requirements Specification (link)
Architectural Design Specification (link)
Detailed Design Specification (link)
Poster (link)
Code (link)
References
Hear World Communications. Loud Door Chime/Strobe Plug-In Receiver with But-ton. https://www.hearworldusa.com/alerting-notification-systems/doorbell-door-knock-signalers/loud-door-chime-strobe-plug-in-receiver-with-button/. Accessed 2021-10-01.
Judith Harkins, Paula E. Tucker, Norman Williams, and Jeff Sauro. Vibration Signaling in Mobile Devices for Emergency Alerting: A Study With Deaf Evaluators. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 15(4):438–445, 2010.
Zions Security. ADT Pulse Strobe Light Kit, 2019. https://zionssecurity.com/product/adt-pulse-strobe-light-kit/.
Allegro Medical Supplies. SafeAwake Fire Alarm Aid – SafeAwake Fire Alarm Aid.
Aliza Vigderman and Gabe Turner. The Best Security Systems for the Deaf, 2021. https://www.security.org/home-security-systems/best/deaf/.
Walmart. Loud Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker, Vibrating Alarm Clock for Heavy Sleepers, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Dual Alarm Clock, 2 Charger Ports, 7-Inch Display, Full Range Dimmer and Battery Backup – Green. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Loud-Alarm-Clock-Bed-Shaker-
Vibrating-Heavy-Sleepers-Deaf-Hard-Hearing-Dual-Clock-2-Charger-Ports-7-Inch-Display-Full-
Range-Dimmer-Battery-Backup-Gre/484777384. Accessed 2021-10-01.
MathWorks. https://in.mathworks.com/help/comm/ug/bluetooth-packet-structure.html.
Typescript. https://www.typescriptlang.org/.
Earthworm_Jon. roLED Addressable RGB Wristband STL files. https://thangs.com/designer/Earthworm_Jon/3d-model/roLED%2520Addressable%2520RGB%2520Wristband%2520%2523hallowearable%2520%2523hallowearables-28103.
