Blind Student Assistant
Project Summary
We used LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT to create two programs that could be very useful to a blind student in a science course. The program speaks Vernier sensor readings or makes a tone with a frequency proportional to the sensor reading.
Project Description
The challenge was to help blind students do real lab experiments and make the solution affordable, easy, and compatible with sensors that are available in many high school and college science labs. We used a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT program to speak sensor readings and make sounds. The solution yields concrete scientific results, making it easy to form relationships and draw conclusions. Our demonstration requires only a 1 meter square desktop area and 120-volt AC power.
To demonstrate the usefulness of this program, we carried out two experiments. The first tested the pH of three liquids: orange juice, milk, and cola. By following these instructions, we determined the pH of the liquids were 4.0, 6.7, and 2.7, respectively. This could be done with any liquids in any lab experiment. With slight modification of the code, we could perform a titration experiment by making the NXT beep once the equivalence point is reached.
In the second experiment, we wanted to observe the inverse-square law by using a light sensor and light source. The closer the light sensor was to the light source, the higher the reading was, and so the NXT made a higher pitch. Making a tone in this experiment was more useful than speaking a value, as it quickly allowed us to find the light source and easily confirm the inverse-square law.
Demo Movie
Project Downloads
- Download Blind Student Assistant LEGO NXT .rxe file »
- Blind Student Assistant instructions »
- Sensor ID Reference »
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