Smart audible device for visually disabled and blind players
Gives blind players all the information to be aware of the position and the trajectory of the sport material
A mission for blind people inclusion
-Multiple organisms have the mission to encourage visually disabled and blind people to participate in sport activities at all levels, from grassroots to the Paralympic Games
-Some sports have been exclusively conceived for blind people (ex: goalball) and others such as football-5-a-side or blind tennis have been adapted using sound balls
-However, only rudimentary systems such as bells exist, which limit sports experience and performance
An innovative electronic audible system
-An electronic audible system modulating the tones according to the speed, the acceleration and the altitude of the sport material has been developed by a research team from UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal)
-This innovative process is based on magnetic and kinetic mechanisms
-The system gives visually impaired/blind players all the information to be aware of the position and the trajectory of the sport material
-Mobile application for sound modulation
-Wireless communication for collection of statistic data relative to the game
The audible hockey puck
-A proof-of-concept of the audible system has been demonstrated for hockey puck
-Bigger hockey puck for visual handicaps (5cm x 15cm)
-Innovative protective case
-Light, robust and resistant to very high impact forces, humidity and freezing conditions
-Localization of the puck even stationnary or in the air
-Energy efficient and rechargeable
-Get started automatically without case opening
-Adjustable sound depending on the skating ring
-Remain activated for more than 2h30
-The first hochey puck to make consensus among teams in North America for its design, its lightness and its sonic and intelligent qualities
A functional prototype
A 100% functional hockey puck prototype has been developed at UQAM University and tested by a blind hockey Club in Montreal. This system has the potential to allow the recognition of blind hockey at the Paralympic Games.
Multi-sport applications
The audible system is adaptable for any sport of visually handicaps that include a ball or a puck (goalball, football-5-a-side, blind tennis, hockey, baseball, basketball, volleyball, golf).
Partnering opportunity
-Patent application in preparation
-Partnering opportunity for the completion of the technology and the commercialization
CONTACT
If you are interested by this technology, please contact :
Sylvain Tardif, Director Business Development, Social Innovations
stardif@aligo.ca, (438) 889-1381
UNIVERSITY
Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
Main inventors
Steve Vezeau
Professor in Electric Engineering department, ÉTS-UQAM
Prof. Vezeau is interested in the methodological issues of integrating ergonomics into the design process -including the investigation methods of the activity in user-centered design approaches- about how industrial designers integrate human components into product design, user participation in the design process and simulation/validation techniques with users. It also looks at the cognitive process of designers. His most recent projects concern transport equipment, hand tools and workstation design. Since 1991, his research has been done in the Groupe 3D laboratory, where he co-founded with Jean-Luc Doyon and Nicolas Gagné.
Mounir Boukadoum
Professor, Director of Microelectronic-Prototyping Laboratory, UQAM
Mounir Boukadoum first taught electronics at Houston Community College before joining the University of Quebec in Montreal in 1984. He has since developed 13 courses in electrical engineering and 3 in computer science, as well as 4 laboratories. including digital signal processing. He is the author of the book “Signals and Linear Systems”, published by Guérin. His research interests, initially focused on instrumentation and biomedical signals, with clinical applications in mind, are now focused on applications of artificial intelligence in different fields, and on instrumentation and communications systems.
Frédéric Nabki
Professor in Electrical Engineering Department, ÉTS
Prof. Nabki Prof. Frederic Nabki received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering with Honors from McGill University in 2003, where he graduated with distinction. In 2009, he completed a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at McGill University in RFIC and MEMS. From 2008 to 2016 he was a Professor in microelectronics engineering at UQAM. He is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the École de technologie supérieure (ETS), a constituent of the University of Quebec. Nabki’s research interests include microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and RF/analog microelectronics, the integrating of MEMS devices with CMOS phase-locked loops, ultra-wideband transceivers, and MEMS interface circuits.
