At the recent Da Nang Youth Union-organised exhibition featuring innovative start-up products and typical scientific research made by the youth, the products ‘Smart helmet for the blind’ and ‘Blackboard cleaning robot with vacuuming feature’ have received a great deal of attention from visitors. These are two smart and useful products created by local students.

Nguyen Le Huy (left) introduceing the product ‘Blackboard cleaning robot with vacuuming feature’ at the exhibition. Photo: N.Q

Smart helmet for the blind

With the desire to assist blind people to move, recognize and avoid obstacles, Nguyen Do Trung Nghia and Huynh Minh Toan, 11^th graders of the Thai Phien Senior High School, have successfully created a smart helmet for the blind.

Nguyen Do Trung Nghia, leader of the group, said that many blind people in Viet Nam have difficulty walking.

Although there are many products on the market to support the visually impaired, they are quite expensive and their usage is complicated. Therefore, in October 2022, the two boys came up with the idea of ​​making a helmet to support the blind.

In particular, the product uses a combination of light sensors for automatically turning on and off a safety warning light, and SR05 ultrasonic sensor for easy identification of obstructions from three sides.

It also features the function of alerting surrounding obstacles by sound and vibration movements so that the visually impaired give appropriate handling.

In principle of operation, after putting the helmet on and turning on the switch, the right, left and front ultrasonic sensors are activated to detect obstacles within 1 meter. When detecting an obstacle, the system will output a warning sound and a vibration motor to transmit a signal to the user to recognize and handle. In particular, when moving in the dark, the sensor emits a signal and turns on a warning light to warn vehicle drivers to avoid. Electronic components are reasonably designed and separated to ensure safety for users.

According to Trung Nghia, in the coming time, he and his teammates will continue to study and perfect the product by increasing battery life, and integrating more sensors with the function of asking for help in case of emergency and fire alarm sensor.

Robot automatically cleans blackboard and vacuums

The ‘Robot cleaning board with vacuuming function’ product, developed by Nguyen Le Huy and Nguyen Minh Khang, 10^th graders from the Le Quy Don Senior High School for the Gifted, has received much attention from exhibition visitors.

Nguyen Le Huy said that regular exposure to chalk dust affects the respiratory system, causing allergic rhinitis and bronchitis. Therefore, the team have come up with the idea of ​​creating a robot that automatically cleans the blackboard and vacuums.

The team finished the product after only 2 months of coming up with the idea.

Accordingly, the robot is squarely designed in the form of a regular whiteboard eraser. It features a magnet, a vacuum chamber and appropriate switch to be able to adhere to each type of board material. It uses a sensor camera to move in a zigzag path that can reach 4 corners of the board.

The robot has a rotating shaft to wipe chalk on the board. When cleaning the board, the propeller starts to suck dust into the chalk bag to help filter the chalk dust, not letting the chalk dust get out.

Once completed, the robot has been tested on various board surfaces and achieved high efficiency. The table surface after wiping has met 80-90% in terms of cleanliness compared to manual cleaning. The robot is easy to carry and use, and its total cost is only VND600,000.

In addition to cleaning the board at school, the device can be used to clean dust on flat surfaces such as tables and chairs in offices, schools and hospitals.

“In the future, we will continue to integrate more new feature to be able to clean other vertical surfaces like glass” Le Huy said.

Reporting by NGOC QUOC - Translating by M.DUNG