Zuidplein
For CLE3 (Contextual Learning Environment 3), we received a specific location in Rotterdam that we had to make more inclusive in some way. My group got Zuidplein, which is a shopping mall in Rotterdam. We focused on blind people and we tried to make shopping easier for them. We had to think of a concept, design it and make a prototype to test if our product works. In this onepager you can read all about the process of our project.
Design
First, we thought of a concept. In Zuidplein, there is no way to know where you are if you're blind. We thought it would be a good idea to design a white cane that makes a sound whenever you are standing in front of a shop. That way a blind person will know where they are. We could expand it as far as the cane telling you which shop it is and give you information about it. We made a design and a plan for testing, as you can see right below.
Prototype
After we designed the white cane we made a prototype for it. We bought a white cane and with two circuit playground expresses (CPE). There's a picture of one of these below. We connected a CPE to the white cane and we put one on the ground. The code on these CPE's connect them to each other and when they are close together, one of them starts beeping. That way a blind person knows that they're standing in front of a shop. I tested the cane on two people and it worked quite well. There's a video of one of the tests down below.
