[Vanhackspace] Help with C-code/Arduino project

[breathe]

This looks like a really cool project, thanks for sharing!  If you have 
trouble finding a volunteer right off the back..  I might suggest 
posting the code that you have, and possibly starting/using a wiki for 
documentation.. this way you/we have a clear idea of what is going on so 
far and what needs to go on in the future(maybe opensource it?).    
Beyond this you/someone could organize a arduino night at which point 
you maybe able to get insight into singular details you are having 
trouble with(this maybe a task for your programmer).    I offer this 
advice as dont want you to get disheartened finding a volunteer.. as 
many folks at VHS are up to their eyes in projects ;) , though who knows.

best wishes,
-b

starrant at telus.net wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I'm involved in a student project to make a communication device for ALS (Lou 
> Gehrig's disease) patients.   The finished project will be entered into an 
> annual competition held by the ALS society.   It is also part of a "capstone 
> project" course at BCIT for the three students involved:  myself and two fellow 
> students in the Biomedical Engineering program, Julie and Brad.   We have done a 
> lot of research with patients and caregivers on the specific needs of this 
> patient group and targeted our project to be a prototype of a robust, 
> inexpensive, simple alternative to existing "assistive communication" devices on 
> the market.  We have partly based our device on two previous BCIT student 
> projects that were entered in last year's ALS society contest, one of which won 
> the $1000 "innovation" award.
>
> The device is a microcontroller (atmega/Arduino) based device that provides a 
> user interface which allows users with severe physical disabilities (i.e., can 
> only activate a customized switch) to input and display messages, or play pre-
> recorded voice messages.   Text input is achieved with a "scanning" matrix of 64 
> LED's that backlight the letters for display, and output is on a 4X20 LCD 
> display;  voice message selection is a similar "scan" of message choices on the 
> LCD, with output of .WAV files stored on an SD card via an Arduino Wave Shield 
> and speaker.  Several other features including audible alarm, user-configurable 
> scan speed and other settings, sleep mode, output to RS232 printer, etc. are 
> also on the wish list.  The hardware prototype is well-defined and nearing 
> completion.   We have a "test-rig" that we are using to develop the code.
> The school term only has 5 midterm-and-finals-filled weeks left however, and the  
> three of us are more "hardware oriented" and finding the programming daunting.  
> Our code "sorta works" but is  clumsy, buggy, and has yet to include many of the 
> "wish list" features.
>
> We are looking for a volunteer:
> 1.)    Someone who is ideally an excellent C-code writer and familiar with the 
> Arduino, LCD displays, Wave shield, etc., to work with Julie (our best 
> programmer) to get the basic functional code working well and looking good, then 
> adding some of the other "wish list" functions.  This might be quite a few hours 
> of work, or it might be something a professional programmer finds trivial, we 
> really don't know....
>
> 2.)  Someone (maybe the same person, or not) to help us hack an RS232 thermal 
> printer so that the user has the option of outputing hard-copy that they have 
> entered via our device.
>
> Why you may be interested in helping:
>
> -It's a good cause, helping severely handicapped people to communicate.
> -It's an interesting project, with lots of blinky lights and sounds.
> -There is the potential to win a prize up to $5000.   This would be shared 
> equally among all the group members.
> -Your name would be included as a project member for the competition, you can 
> list it on your resume etc.
> -Did I mention Beer? Lots of Beer.
>
> If you are interested, please contact me and describe your credentials, 
> experience, time availability, and the reasons you are interested.   Part 1 
> above would ideally start *now* and end by the end of March, early April at the 
> latest.   Part 2 is optional, and could take place during April right up to the 
> competition.
>
> Stephen Tarrant
> starrant at telus.net
> 604-301-0214
>
>
>
>
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