Karla Conn - Finger Mouse and Text-To-Speech Application

AUTHOR

Karla Conn

NSF Summer Undergraduate Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania

I am currently a senior in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2001, the University of Pennsylvania accepted me into the SUNFEST (Summer Undergraduate Fellowship in Sensor Technologies) program - a 10-week REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program. During the summer, I completed the research described in my paper. The REU program at UPenn, inspired me to think about research as a future career. I plan to finish my B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in December 2002 and enroll in graduate school for the following fall semester. I have not chosen a specific university, but I would like to find an Electrical Engineering or Biomedical Engineering program focusing on robotics or prosthetics. I am currently working in a biomedical lab at UK with Dr. Ranu Jung. I have been an active member of SWE (the Society of Women Engineers) for four years.

ABSTRACT
The smart wheelchair project is a unique investigation into the possibilities of helping the impaired navigate in a mobile chair. Many disabled people who need the help of a wheelchair to move about also need help communicating orally. This project allows the "walking" wheelchair to do some "talking." A communication program for the wheelchair was developed, as well as a finger mouse that was implemented into all the programs. The finger mouse is a switch button small enough to wear on one's finger. When the button is pressed, a signal is sent out from the transmitter and picked up by the receiver, which sends a signal through the parallel port of the computer to execute the desired application. The communication program is a speech program that speaks text messages. The finger mouse and speech application are connected through a communication display interface - a page of icons. When the mouse is clicked over an icon linked to a particular phrase, the mouse, the display, and the speech software work together to speak the phrase. Thus, the communication program gives the freedom of speech to anyone using the wheelchair for free range of motion.

INTRODUCTION
This work was completed during the summer of 2001 at the University of Pennsylvania as part of an REU (research experience for undergraduates) program. Dr. Jim Ostrowski, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics supervised the project as the faculty mentor. Dr. Ostrowski, overseer of many projects in the GRASP (General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, and Perception) lab, along with a group of Penn graduate students, developed the "smart" wheelchair project during the eight months prior to this work.

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.....Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ranu Jung, Associate Professor
.....of Biomedical/Electrical and Computer Engineering

There is a tremendous need for providing improvement in assisted living to people restricted in their freedom of movement and impaired in communication abilities. In her rehabilitation engineering REU project, conducted under the guidance of Dr. Jim Ostrowski at the University of Pennsylvania in the summer of 2001, Karla developed and implemented a text-to-speech hardware/software attachment for wheelchairs that targets this need. The product is both useful and innovative. Not only can people with speech impairment use it, but also, because it is a system mounted on a wheelchair, it provides "freedom of speech and mobility." Since the completion of this work, Karla has independently written a clear and thorough report describing the development, implementation, and use of the system.

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AUTHOR	Karla Conn
	*NSF Summer Undergraduate Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania* I am currently a senior in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2001, the University of Pennsylvania accepted me into the SUNFEST (Summer Undergraduate Fellowship in Sensor Technologies) program - a 10-week REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program. During the summer, I completed the research described in my paper. The REU program at UPenn, inspired me to think about research as a future career. I plan to finish my B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in December 2002 and enroll in graduate school for the following fall semester. I have not chosen a specific university, but I would like to find an Electrical Engineering or Biomedical Engineering program focusing on robotics or prosthetics. I am currently working in a biomedical lab at UK with Dr. Ranu Jung. I have been an active member of SWE (the Society of Women Engineers) for four years. Read More	ABSTRACT The smart wheelchair project is a unique investigation into the possibilities of helping the impaired navigate in a mobile chair. Many disabled people who need the help of a wheelchair to move about also need help communicating orally. This project allows the "walking" wheelchair to do some "talking." A communication program for the wheelchair was developed, as well as a finger mouse that was implemented into all the programs. The finger mouse is a switch button small enough to wear on one's finger. When the button is pressed, a signal is sent out from the transmitter and picked up by the receiver, which sends a signal through the parallel port of the computer to execute the desired application. The communication program is a speech program that speaks text messages. The finger mouse and speech application are connected through a communication display interface - a page of icons. When the mouse is clicked over an icon linked to a particular phrase, the mouse, the display, and the speech software work together to speak the phrase. Thus, the communication program gives the freedom of speech to anyone using the wheelchair for free range of motion. INTRODUCTION This work was completed during the summer of 2001 at the University of Pennsylvania as part of an REU (research experience for undergraduates) program. Dr. Jim Ostrowski, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics supervised the project as the faculty mentor. Dr. Ostrowski, overseer of many projects in the GRASP (General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, and Perception) lab, along with a group of Penn graduate students, developed the "smart" wheelchair project during the eight months prior to this work. Top of Page \| Next Page
.....Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ranu Jung, Associate Professor .....of Biomedical/Electrical and Computer Engineering
There is a tremendous need for providing improvement in assisted living to people restricted in their freedom of movement and impaired in communication abilities. In her rehabilitation engineering REU project, conducted under the guidance of Dr. Jim Ostrowski at the University of Pennsylvania in the summer of 2001, Karla developed and implemented a text-to-speech hardware/software attachment for wheelchairs that targets this need. The product is both useful and innovative. Not only can people with speech impairment use it, but also, because it is a system mounted on a wheelchair, it provides "freedom of speech and mobility." Since the completion of this work, Karla has independently written a clear and thorough report describing the development, implementation, and use of the system.