Hingham Resident Awarded First Place in Syracuse Senior Design Project

Syracuse University senior and Hingham resident Laura Hogan and her team  were recently awarded first place in the Senior Design Project in Electrical & Computer Engineering for designing a computerized walking stick.

Hogan and her classmates Jonathan Foust, Miryha Smith, Breanna Williams project is a requirement for all seniors majoring in Engineering & Computer science.  The project is part of the Open House for incoming freshman 2012 where they display Junior & Senior projects. 

Hogan and her teams’ computerized walking stick was designed to use Radio Frequency Identification tags to alert users when they have reached their destination, and also to inform them of what attractions are nearby.  With the use of sensors, GU|tra will also be able to inform the user when there is an obstacle near them.  The turn by turn directions along with the alerts for impending collisions will be delivered to the user using a headphone set, which will be connected to a mobile phone.   The mobile phone will receive information from the sensors and RFID’s, with the help of an Arduino Microcontroller, and then announce the appropriate commands based on the information it receives.  This will be done using a signal transmitted through the USB connection on the Android phone.