Haptic belt

Haptic belt

Active safety measure for intended machine movements

Programme: Mechanical Engineering / Industrial Economy

Course: MT2569 – Design Thinking

Corporate partner: Volvo Construction Equipment

Challenge: The needfinding resulted in the recognition of a situation with the highest risk for an accident as reversing with heavy machinery, especially at night when it is dark outside and it can be hard for the driver to spot someone in the backup camera, and hard for workers outside of the machines to spot the movement of the machines.

Solution: A belt with haptic motors which vibrates in the direction of an incoming machine. The belt is equipped with four sensor packs placed to the south, north, west, and east of the belt. Each pack includes an RFID patch and a vibrating motor. Additionally, the belt is fitted with a battery and a microcontroller. These elements work together to ensure worker safety. The supplementary system integrated into Volvo machines includes several transmitters and receivers strategically placed. These transmitters and receivers are connected to a central controller that manages the information.

Impact: The haptic belt works as an extra set of eyes for the user. It can warn the user of upcoming machines that would otherwise go unnoticed and potentially save lives.

Prototypes: We used Arduino to make a prototype with ultrasonic sensors instead of RFID chips and buzzers instead of haptic motors.

Quotes from sponsor/partner: –

Project team:

  • Elias Forsenberg, Mechanical Engineering, class of 2020.
  • Pablo Tornier, Mechanical Engineering (Erasmus, France), class of 2020.
  • Zahid Elhassen, Industrial Economy, class of 2019

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