Design and development of intelligent crutch control board

China began to enter an aging society in 2000, and now it has become one of the countries with the largest elderly population in the world. The decline of the physical function of the elderly has brought great inconvenience to travel, and the elderly with inconvenient legs and feet will choose crutches to assist in travel. At the same time, China is one of the countries with the largest number of blind people in the world. Under normal circumstances, the travel of the blind can only rely on crutches or guide dogs. Since it takes a long time and high cost to train a good guide dog, more people choose crutches. However, the traditional crutch is just a long stick with simple structure and single function, and there are a series of problems.

In this paper, by adopting ultrasonic ranging design and adding night mode, it can better protect the travel safety of the elderly or blind. This design has a clear orientation and is specially designed for the elderly and the blind. It simplifies the structure of the crutches, and is easy to operate, convenient and practical.

1. The overall design of the multifunctional intelligent crutch system

The whole system is mainly composed of single-chip control, GPS positioning, voice recognition, GSM communication, obstacle alarm, fall detection, voice broadcast and light warning modules. After the system is powered on, the crutches will turn on the smart mode. When the user is walking, if the crutches detect obstacles in front of them, a voice prompt will be issued to give an alarm; If the crutch is tilted for 15 s, the microcontroller will automatically control the GSM communication module and send a distress message to the guardian; when the user feels unwell, he can press the distress button to send the distress message directly to the guardian; SMS, the user can also press the false alarm button to send safety information to the guardian, so as to avoid unnecessary worries of the guardian; the user can control the switch of the household appliance by voice, realizing the intelligent control of the household appliance. The crutches are easy to operate and have practical functions, which can meet the living needs of the elderly and the blind.

2. Hardware circuit design of smart crutches

(1) Single-chip microcomputer control module: This module uses STC12C5A60S2 single-chip microcomputer as the main control chip. It has the characteristics of low power consumption and strong anti-interference ability. . The single-chip microcomputer runs stably and can work in the smart crutch system for a long time, and is suitable for use on portable devices such as crutches.

(2) GSM communication module: This module includes an RF antenna and a receiving module, which can realize the sending of distress messages, and the guardian can remotely monitor the user. The crutch uses the Air208 module, which is compatible with SIM900A commands, small in size, and power-saving, and can meet the communication requirements of the smart crutch. The communication between the single-chip microcomputer and the GSM module adopts UART serial port communication, and the GSM module is directly controlled by the single-chip microcomputer. When the crutch detects that the user has fallen, it will automatically send a distress message to the guardian.

(3) GPS positioning module: GPS positioning mainly realizes the accurate positioning of the user's location. When the user faces an emergency, it is convenient for the guardian to find its location in time and carry out rescue. The crutch uses the GT-U7 module, which has short start-up time, low power consumption, small size, and extremely high tracking sensitivity to expand the positioning coverage area. When the user falls or encounters danger, its position can be sent to the guardian's mobile phone through the GSM communication module. High-precision positioning can be achieved in complex urban streets, which is convenient for guardians to find the location of the lost elderly in the first place.

(4) Voice recognition module: This module is composed of voice input, voice recognition, wireless transmission and other parts. The LD3320 chip is used for speech recognition, which can recognize non-specific speech from people. The speech signal is processed and converted into a level signal and sent to the single-chip microcomputer. After processing by the single-chip microcomputer, it controls the switch of household appliances, such as the switch of the voice control lamp.

(5) Obstacle alarm module: This module uses ultrasonic ranging, uses the transmitter to emit ultrasonic waves, and the single-chip microcomputer starts timing at the same time, when the ultrasonic receiver receives the echo reflected by the obstacle, the single-chip microcomputer stops timing. This period of time is Δt, and the propagation speed of the ultrasonic wave in the air is set to v, using s=v×Δt, the distance s between the ultrasonic module emission point and the obstacle can be calculated. This module can detect the distance to the obstacle in front in real time, and when the measured value is less than the safety distance set in the program, the system will give a voice prompt to the user.

3. Software design of intelligent crutch system

The software program of the multifunctional intelligent crutch includes subroutines such as system startup, parameter setting, obstacle alarm, voice control and state detection. The software design of this system is written in C language with reliable performance.

epilogue

Aiming at the inconvenience of daily travel for the elderly and the blind, the multifunctional smart crutches designed and implemented in this paper can provide walking support, real-time monitoring, and timely help for the elderly, and provide obstacle reminders for the blind, inform the blind of their current location and time, emergency Ask family members for help under certain circumstances. Meet the needs of the elderly, so that the elderly have a healthy and safe old age. At the same time, it can remind the blind of the road conditions ahead, help them avoid obstacles, inform them of their location, help the blind to travel, reduce the probability of accidents, and ensure their personal safety. This design overcomes the disadvantages of traditional crutches such as simple structure, single function, incapability of real-time monitoring and timely help, and can provide certain help for the elderly in unexpected situations and blind people traveling.

The above is an example of the design and development of a multifunctional intelligent crutch based on a single-chip microcomputer introduced by Shenzhen Zuchuang Microelectronics Co., Ltd. If you have the development needs of the intelligent crutch control board circuit, you can rest assured to entrust it to us. We represent a variety of single-chip microcomputers, voice chips, dual-mode Bluetooth ICs, and wifi chips. Brands include Songhan MCU, Yingguang MCU, Jerry Bluetooth, Ankai Bluetooth, Allwinner, and Realtek. Our technical services include: PCB design, microcontroller development, Bluetooth solutions, software and hardware custom development, APP development, small program development, WeChat official account development, etc. It can also undertake the design of intelligent electronic products, the development of living appliances, the research and development of beauty equipment, the application of Internet of things platform, the smart home control system, the development of TWS earphones, Bluetooth earphone speakers, the development of children's educational toys, the design of electronic education products, etc.