Planet Arduino

Prosthetic and assistive technologies have come have come a long way in recent years. When there are not only major medical research organizations, but individuals getting on board designing tools to improve the lives of others? That’s something special. Enter a homebrew essay into this field: ExoArm.

Attached to the body via what was available — in this case, the support harness for a gas-powered weed-eater — which distributes the load across the upper body and an Arduino for a brain, ExoArm designer [Kristjan Berce] has since faced roadblocks with muscle sensors meant to enable more instinctive control. So — for now — functionality is limited to a simple up and down motion controlled by two switches. It is worth noting that the down switch is currently mounted in such a way that when the user moves their arm down, the ExoArm follows suit, so there is some natural feel to using the arm in its present iteration.

Developed with the elderly — and others who need a boost to physical strength to live a normal life — in mind, this prototype is able to curl up to 10kg in excess of its own weight. Presently, the only motor is on the elbow joint — granting a basic range of motion — with one adapted to the shoulder joint forthcoming! And, costing only $100, it’s a heck of a start.

We’ve featured some impressive individual forays into hackers helping others, humans and animals alike!

[Hari Wiguna’s] father is ninety years young. He started having trouble pushing the buttons on his TV remote, so [Hari] decided to build a custom remote that just has the buttons his dad needs. Oh, and the buttons are big.

There are few interesting things about this project. [Hari] wanted to maximize battery life, so he went through a good bit of effort to keep the processor asleep and minimize power consumption. The remote is programmable, but [Hari] didn’t have access to his dad’s remotes. His answer was elegant. He used his Android phone to mimic the required remotes and provided a way for the remote to learn from another remote (in this case, the phone).

[Hari] made a series of videos that cover the project from the breadboard to a good-looking plastic case with laser cut overlays. It is a well-thought out and documented Arduino project and a good model for what you can do to make life more accessible to anyone with special needs.

[Hari’s] code is available on Github. We are sure his dad will be happy with the result. It is sometimes easier to think of what we want (like a cool and complex touch screen remote) instead of what the end user will appreciate, but [Hari] nailed it, we think. Of course, back in the day, your remote only had seven buttons, anyway.

[Hari Wiguna’s] father is ninety years young. He started having trouble pushing the buttons on his TV remote, so [Hari] decided to build a custom remote that just has the buttons his dad needs. Oh, and the buttons are big.

There are few interesting things about this project. [Hari] wanted to maximize battery life, so he went through a good bit of effort to keep the processor asleep and minimize power consumption. The remote is programmable, but [Hari] didn’t have access to his dad’s remotes. His answer was elegant. He used his Android phone to mimic the required remotes and provided a way for the remote to learn from another remote (in this case, the phone).

[Hari] made a series of videos that cover the project from the breadboard to a good-looking plastic case with laser cut overlays. It is a well-thought out and documented Arduino project and a good model for what you can do to make life more accessible to anyone with special needs.

[Hari’s] code is available on Github. We are sure his dad will be happy with the result. It is sometimes easier to think of what we want (like a cool and complex touch screen remote) instead of what the end user will appreciate, but [Hari] nailed it, we think. Of course, back in the day, your remote only had seven buttons, anyway.