ROMU (Stanford ME 310)
Length: 30 weeks Topics Explored: soft goods design, PCB design, Arduino & mechatronics design, vacuum forming, silicone molding, 3D printing, Android development, UI/UX design, GPS & navigational sensor exploration, wireless communication protocols Sponsored by Microsoft, this project is the culmination of a year's worth of work by 4 Stanford students, including myself, and 4 international students at the University of Science and Technology in Hefei, China. Our design prompt: "Design and prototype a creative wearable artifact that After much exploration of the wearable design space, a compelling need has been found in the area of haptic navigation. By giving turn-by-turn or compass-based directions via vibrational cues in a wearable device, pedestrian navigation is made safer, less distracting, and more enjoyable. No longer will the user have to rely on visual or audio instructions that may put them at risk for injury or make them a target as a confused traveler.
In fall quarter the haptic method of navigation was tested with a manually-controlled prototype and the results were highly successful - though there was some confusion as to the meaning of certain haptic cues amongst the more technically averse test subjects, most subjects preferred the wearable to more traditional navigation methods such as continually checking a paper map or digital maps application. By June 2014, the team completed ROMU, a wearable navigation armband and companion app. This fully functional prototype is ideal for pedestrian navigation in urban areas, providing the user with turn-by-turn instructions via unique vibrational patterns. The product was showcased at Stanford's EXPE event and met with positive feedback, due to features like easy phone-to-device pairing, intuitive directional cues, and tap-to-pause functionality. |
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