Adaptive Baseball for Individuals with Visual Impairments and/or Certain Sensory Processing

Disorders

Colleen Dunlap

Purpose

Use technology and computer programming to make baseball accessible to people with visual impairments and/or certain sensory processing disorders.

Plans

The ball, having a hole through its central axis, will run along two level strings. When the strings are pulled apart at one end, the ball will travel towards the opposite end. Perpendicular to the string will be a motion detector. I will create a LabVIEW program that will use data from the motion sensor to produce a noise as the ball passes the motion detectors radar range. The auditory prompts will help the user know when to swing, and the level path of the ball will help a user make contact.

The Initial Blueprint

Example of Ball/String Setup

Initial Flow Chart for LabVIEW Programming

Final Flow Chart for LabVIEW programming

LabVIEW Program Created

Results!

• The program was fairly inaccurate due to mechanical/tool error. The low budget of this project (an estimated $0.00) really hurt the consistency. However, I think it worked well as a prototype and it did have some successes…

Successes!

Going Forward

If I were to continue on this project, I would certainly improve some things. I’d try adding multiple motion sensors for multiple auditory prompts. I would use motion sensors that are not only more accurate, but have a larger distance that they are able to measure. I would also like to discover a way to modify the technology to detect and prompt for a ball that is freely pitched by a pitcher and not on a line (e.g. the pitch of the prompt determines the location of the ball on the plane of the strike zone, as well as the proximity it is to the batter)

Special Thanks to…

• My lovely volunteer testers—Andrea Springman, Regina Barton, and Elizabeth Dorsey

• Mr. Rodriguez for teaching me how to use LabVIEW in half a week

• Mrs. Wheaton for encouraging me to pursue this project

Muchos Gracias Everybody!