I can imagine myself in both Dad's and Nathan's circumstance, and I recall a lot of less-than-successful experiences I have had with "medical professionals."He can think for himself and will ultimately be making any decision about using what ever we can come up with.
That is just awful. Ripping people off out of their desire to heal their loved ones is super nasty.A co-worker of mine had a wife that was dying of cancer. They mortgaged everything to seek a snake oil cure in Mexico. His wife died shortly after the treatments. While their search for a cure was well intended but did not change anything other then leaving a co-worker in debt for $30K.
Thanks DickCappels, This sounds like a very promising way to approach it.Your idea sounds great.
You might want to start by doing an exhaustive search to see what's already been done and what is being done now to accomplish the same thing you want to accomplish. It can save you a heap of learning the expen$ive way, and you might find some people who are working in the field that might value your input and participation.
If we are allowed to just toss out ideas as the occur to us, here goes...
I like ErnieM's concept but I would consider using pressure sensors rather than switches. The pressure measurement would be used to control the frequency of small vibrating transducers (probable range is a few Hz to perhaps 50 Hz) such that the frequency is a function of pressure. That would give your dad a sense of how his weight is distributed. I imagine that three sensors would be enough (one on the heal, and two to cover both sides of the ball of the foot).
The placement and arrangement of the vibrating transducers as ErnieM described sounds good, but you would probably have to experiment with the arrangement of the transducers with respect to location on his leg and to each other to obtain the best results.
That's my 2¢ worth.
I think your project will attract a lot of volunteers since it is likely to actually be helpful to somebody.
I think a cellphone vibration motor might work and be more definitive than a gentle push from a plunger. It would feel a bit like a shock without actually being one. A problem with this strategy is the well-known phantom buzzer effect, where you think the buzzer is vibrating when it isn't.Now does anyone know of a nice solenoid that can extend a bit to make a physical sensation of pressure?
Yes the buzzer may cause a problem, but i hope that having 3 different outputs (vibrating transducers) for each of the force senors would help mitigate this affect as positioning them in different areas would indicate rear, say back of upper leg to heel or ball of foot to front of upper leg.I think a cellphone vibration motor might work and be more definitive than a gentle push from a plunger. It would feel a bit like a shock without actually being one. A problem with this strategy is the well-known phantom buzzer effect, where you think the buzzer is vibrating when it isn't.
A load sensor such as that would be a microprocessor project, something needs to read the sensor, interpet how much force is there, and drive a transducer. All that could work but I would look at a simple "proof of concept" build first, something easy to build and have dad try and see if he thinks it could help....I understand the basics of the componets and have found some pressure sensors, but they seem to be for fluids or gas, is there a sensor for weight or applied force.
When you say that the frequency could be a function of pressure, would the vibrating transducers vibrate more due to more weight being applied?
It actually sounds very simple, but i am a novice! Is it fairly simple electronics or are we talking microprocessors?
That is the right start, I hope they get back to you. Try something local, lots of people are working on similar devices, check this out - http://www.multicare.org/home/news/...nts-device-to-help-stroke-patients-walk-again. A commercial device is out on the market as well for $6500. (do not know where you are, this is in washington)http://www.mpg.de/4379832/F002_Focus_026-033.pdf
I have contacted the group of scientists at the Max Planck institute, they seem to be doing lots of work in the areas i described above, and have asked for there feed back on the idea.
by Jake Hertz
by Duane Benson
by Jake Hertz