September 28, 2015 Andrew H. Rawicz School of Engineering Science Simon Fraser University V5A 1S6 Re: ENSC440 Project Proposal - Flipp: A Page Turning Device Dear Dr. Rawicz, In accordance with the requirements for ENSC305W and ENSC440W enclosed with this letter is Lex-Aid s proposal for Flipp: A Page Turning Device. The goal of this project is to design a device capable of turning the pages of a book for those who are physically disabled in a way that makes doing so difficult or impossible. Within the document is an explanation for what such a device would be useful, an analysis of the market for this kind of device, details of the device itself, a budget and timeline for completing the device and a brief introduction of the members of Lex-Aid. The Lex-Aid team is comprised of 4 fourth year engineering students: Daniel Miess, Rajdeep Singh, Kamal Ezz and Hesam Bagheri Azghadi. If you have any questions or concerns about the contents of this proposal please do not hesitate to contact us at (778) 877-2826 or by e-mail at dmiess@sfu.ca Sincerely, Daniel Miess Chief Executive Officer Lex-Aid
Proposal for Flipp: A Page Turning Device Project Team: Contact Person: Daniel Miess Rajdeep Singh Kamal Ezz Hesam Bagheri Azghadi Daniel Miess dmiess@sfu.ca Submitted to: Dr. Andrew Rawicz ENSC 440 Steve Whitemore ENSC 305 School of Engineering Science Simon Fraser University Date Issued: September 28 th 2015 Revision: 1.2
Proposal for a Page Turning Device Executive Summary A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe. - Madeleine L Engle For millennia written word has served as a medium through which ideas are communicated, both in the present and through the generations. Gutenberg s revolutionary invention of the printing press meant that these words could be disseminated to large audiences, opening up the minds of millions to ideas from across the street and across the world. Books have conferred tremendous amounts of power in the time they have existed. They ve sparked revolutions that went on to divide our world, they ve brought hope and spiritual enlightenment to billions of people and they ve carried with them news of miraculous scientific discoveries that have redefined what we as a species are capable of. In modern times medical advances have allowed us to live much longer lives than those in the past. With each generation our life expectancies increase and although this brings tremendous benefits it also forces us to face new challenges. As we age the flexibility of our bodies decreases and with it our manual dexterity. This can make reading a book challenging or even impossible as the fine movements required to turn the pages of a book become simply too difficult to perform. The team at Lex-Aid intends to solve this problem and bring the magic of books back to those for whom it is lost. We will do so with our product, Flipp. Flipp is an electromechanical device that will turn the pages of a book for a reader. Currently there are no devices on the market, targeted towards those with limited motor function, for turning the pages of a book. With the increasing age of the Canadian population we feel the market is both ready and in need of this device so that books can continue to enrich people s lives well into their golden years. The team at Lex-Aid consists of four engineering students who are both passionate about this project and skilled enough to make Flipp a reality. In the months leading up to December the Lex-Aid team intends to research, design and construct a prototype of Flipp. We believe that this goal can be accomplished with a budget of $763 CAD and having investigated funding sources we are confident that we can secure the necessary funds to accomplish this project both on time and within budget. iii
Table of Contents Executive Summary... iii Table of Contents... iii List of Figures... iii List of Tables... iii 1. Introduction... 1 2. System Overview... 2 3. Market Research... 4 4. Budget & Funding... 5 5. Schedule... 6 6. Company Profile... 7 7. Conclusion... 9 8. References... 10 List of Figures Figure 1 - Flipp Perspective View...2 Figure 2- Flipp High Perspective View...3 Figure 3 - Gantt Organizational Chart...6 Figure 4 - Project Milestones...6 List of Tables Table 1 Project Budget 5 iii
1. Introduction Since the invention of the printing press, reading has been an essential source of knowledge, pleasure, happiness, and moral courage. With the vast technological advancements and ongoing inventions, reading has and will always be one the most beneficial and feasible activities leading to self-enlightenment. Not only does it broaden one s general knowledge and enhance their ability to process information, but it is also a way of reaching out to the world allowing the reader to be exposed to new ideas, concepts, people, and places. During the last couple of decades, technology has been developing vigorously to facilitate the process of reading and assuring accessibility for all people. Although reading materials can now be accessed through a variety of ways including physical textbooks, audio books, electronic books, as well as embossed textbooks and displays; yet printed textbooks remain the most preferred and widely used. A recent study made by Joan Ganz Cooney Centre showed that literacy building is more effective with a physical textbooks compared to other material types, leading to more sales of paper books than other formats [1]. However, it is still very challenging for some of the handicapped to use paper books as their physical disabilities impede them from interacting with the book pages. Flipping through book pages remains the biggest challenge for some disabled individuals as it requires fine muscle contractions and accurate hand movements. Due to these reasons, Lex-Aid intends solve the problem of page flipping for physically disabled readers to allow them easy access to books. From there comes the company s first page flipping product the Lex-Aid Flipp. Lex-Aid Flipp is the perfect tool to aid readers manage their books and easily flip through its pages. The device will smoothly flip through the pages of the book. Unlike most page flipping tools, Lex-Aid Flipp is the most reliable as it is compatible with books of different sizes and different paper material, giving the user a pleasant reading experience. This proposal provides an overview of the product functionalities, indicating its design considerations, feasibility study, team organization, as well as major processes and milestones. 1
2. System Overview The Lex-Aid Flipp boasts a robust set of features which will make it the most versatile page flipping device available on the market. The most unique feature of the device is a vacuum powered arm capable of lifting up the page of a book. Many similar devices make use of a wheel to grab onto a page which has proven to be generally unreliable and not effective for all page textures. The vacuum arm however will form a tight seal around a single page of the book and raise it up until it is roughly 30 from the surface of the book. At this point the lower wheel arm will engage, turning in the counter-clockwise direction and depositing the page on the other side of the book. Figure 1 - Flipp Perspective View Flipp also features tabs on the sides which will firmly hold the pages of the book in place while reading is taking place. When a page is being flipped these tabs will disengage allowing for the page to be flipped before they re-engage to continue holding the book in place. As well, in order to facilitate an enjoyable reading experience the vacuum arm will retract to a neutral position when not in use in order to avoid obstructing the view of the reader. Another feature which is instrumental to the functionality of our products is the ability to turn through pages both forwards and backwards. The device will feature a switch which will allow the user to specify the direction of operation. Running Flipp in reverse mode will simply cause the vacuum arm to swing to the other side of the book and perform its function in the mirror reverse of its function in forward operation mode. As well, when in reverse operation mode the hook on the front wheel arm with pivot so as to be facing the opposite direction and the wheel will clockwise when flipping pages. 2
Flipp will be controlled by an external control box. A plug in the back of Flipp will allow for an external control module to be connected which is necessary to the function of the device. The design of this control module will be kept relatively simple in order to allow third parties to design additional control modules that cater to the needs of disabled people who may have very specific needs for their control module. Our design will consist of a large, easy to press button which will trigger a page turn. It will also feature a rocker switch which can be used to select either forward or reverse operation mode. Figure 2- Flipp High Perspective View Flipp will be powered by a 12 volt power connection in the rear of the device. This power will be supplied by a commercially available AC adpter. By using a third party AC adapter we will make the device far safer than if we were to design this part of the device ourself and we will also have an easier of achieving certification in the future. 3
3. Market Research According to recent statistics more than 30% of the population of Canada is over the age of fifty. [2] As the baby-boomer generation is reaching the retirement age and medical advances are extending the expected lifespan of individuals this percentage is only expected to increase in the coming years. In 2012 13.7% of Canadians self-reported as having a disability and 7.6% of Canadians reported having a disability that affected their flexibility. [3,4] Of those reporting a disability more than 70% were over the age of fifty. Considering that the population of Canada is roughly 35.54 million and if 7.6% suffer some disability related to flexibility that makes for 2.7 million Canadians. Admittedly many of that group may not suffer flexibility issues that affect their manual dexterity but if only a quarter of those people did that would leave 675,000 Canadians with impacted dexterity. Of course this number only takes into consideration the numbers in Canada. Assuming similar percentages of affected individuals in the United States results in a value of 6.1 million people with affected dexterity. [6] These statistics show that there are a significant number of Canadians who find themselves without the dexterity to turn the pages of a book or for whom turning the pages of a book poses a significant challenge. There exists a significant group of people over the age of fifty who would not consider using an e-book. They have lived most of their lives with printed word as the primary information resource and are unwilling at this stage in their lives to consider changing their reading habits. Currently the market for devices that turn the pages of a book is largely untapped. There exists a product by the company PageFlip for turning the pages of a book but this device is market primarily towards musicians and the pages must be manually preloaded using the devices mechanical arms. [5] This requires more dexterity than turning the page itself thereby making this solution unsuitable for disabled individuals. Web searches yield a number of videos and reports about high school and university projects which attempt to solve the same problem however none of these seem to have been successfully commercialized. There are two major hurdles that these devices face that we are hoping to overcome. The first is that the device must be usable on nearly all types of books. There is a great deal of variety in the characteristics of books. The number of pages can be very small for example in the case of a user manual for a simple device or very large in the case of textbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedias. Page thickness is also highly variable. A cookbook for example generally has very thick pages to ease use in a kitchen setting while the Bible generally has very thin pages in order to reduce manufacturing cost. The form factor of books can vary a great deal as well. Small pocket reference books may only measure less than ten centimeters in height or width while coffee table books may be over thirty centimeters in height and width. In order to successfully capture this market the device we are offering will need to handle this wide range of books with a very low error rate. 4
4. Budget & Funding The following table outlines the intended budget for developing Flipp. Over the next three months of development we plan to purchase a number of discrete mechanical and electrical components which we have researched to determine price, availability and practicality of use. Wherever possible, component choices will be made such as to keep costs as low as possible without any significant impact to quality. Due to the inherent unpredictability of a project such as this we have included a 25% contingency factor in our budget calculation to accommodate any unforeseen circumstances which might arise during the course of development. Table 1 Project Budget Item Quantity Unit Price Total Cost Stepper Motor 2 $60 $120 Small Brushed Motor 4 $15 $60 Vacuum Pump 1 $50 $50 Custom Built Arm 2 $80 $160 Force Sensor 1 $60 $60 Acrylic Wheel 1 $20 $20 Arduino Microcontroller 1 $60 $60 Misc Electrical Components 1 $80 $80 Subtotal $610 25% Contingency $153 $763 The numbers given in the previous table are only indicative of the cost of developing the first unit of our product. If the project is successful and enters into mass production it will only cost a fraction of the budget of the first unit. Over the course of development our CFO will carefully document all expenditures to ensure we fall within the scope of our budget. In order to see the development of Flipp through to completion the team at Lex-Aid has had to consider a number of possible sources for funding. We have chosen to apply for funds through the Engineering Science Student Endowment Fund [7] and well as through the Whighton Engineering Development Fund [8]. We are confident that these two sources will provide us with the necessary development funds to complete this project. However, in the event that we are unable to secure funds for the project through these sources the members of Lex-Aid have agreed to split the cost of any budget over-runs. 5
5. Schedule The design and construction of Flipp will take place over a period of roughly four months. In this time the Lex-Aid team will do extensive research into the details of the product and how best to approach implementation, plan detailed specifications and finally construct our products, in the course of which we will likely go through and number of revision stages. In figure 3 we have provided a detailed look at the phases of this project and their projected start and completion dates. This represents our goal in planning this project and may be subject to some dates shifting as the project goes along but overall we intend to follow this schedule as closely as possible. Figure 3 - Gantt Organizational Chart Figure 4 illustrates some of the important milestones we will pass through the duration of this project. The majority of these dates are set as a part of ENSC 440 and thus are not subject to change. The team at Lex-Aid is confident in their ability to meet all of these deadlines. Figure 4 - Project Milestones 6
6. Company Profile Lex-Aid consists of four enthusiastic, innovative, and industrious fourth year engineering students. The team members include Daniel Miess, Hesam Azghadi, Rajdeep Singh and Kamal Ezz. Each member of the team brings a unique set of technical skills, knowledge and experience which is necessary for the project. The corporate structure of Lex-Aid has all executive positions where each individual is treated as an equal. Daniel Miess, the company s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is responsible for making final decisions and will oversee all activities. Hesam Azghadi, the Chief Financial Officer, will manage the budget and expenditures. Lex-Aid s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) is Rajdeep Singh, who will handle technical issues and provided technical support. Lastly, Kamal Ezz is the company s Chief Information Officer (CIO). He will advise based on existing technology and provide innovative solutions. To ensure that the team adheres to the proposed schedule, meetings will be held twice a week. During the meetings, the workload will be equally distributed to match the members strengths. Each meeting is documented and shared to maintain communication between group members. A summary of each member s qualifications is included below. Daniel Robert Miess Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Daniel is a fourth year electronics engineering student with experience in both hardware and software projects. In his time at Simon Fraser University he has designed and implemented analog filter circuits and has experience working with laser systems. During his co-op placement with Avigilon Corporation he developed software for embedded platforms becoming familiar with ARM processor architecture, cloud based system virtualization and multimedia transcoding libraries. As well he has experience with network communications and is knowledgeable in the use of network analyzing tools such as Wireshark. Both his co-op placement and extensive independent studies have provided him with a strong proficiency in the Linux operating system as a platform for development. These skills and experiences make Daniel's knowledge base a well-rounded one leaving him well suited to finding and implementing solutions. Hesam Bagheri Azghadi Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Hesam is a fourth year System Engineering student who has worked on various electronic and mechanical projects through his undergraduate degree at SFU. From his first coop experience as an Electronic Engineer at Lungpacer Medical Inc., Hesam has gained 7
extensive amount of experience on sensors, with the focus on digital Accelerometers. He also worked as Validation Engineer at Aquantia in Silicon Valley, where he did a lot of Python scripting in order to create GUI for Characterization of Data and Lab Device Automation. In addition, Hesam is also familiar with different tools in manufacturing and development industries such as Solidworks, Labview and LTSpice. These skills make him a good candidate to find the root of any problem and implement the plan to successfully complete the tasks. Rajdeep Singh Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Rajdeep is a fourth year Electronics Engineering student at Simon Fraser University. He has acquired a unique set of interdisciplinary skills through a combination of strong academic and coop opportunities. As a senior student, Raj has acquired in-depth knowledge of electronic circuits as well as programming skills. His co-op experience as a hardware engineer at Intel of Canada further developed his circuit design, layout and debugging skills. Additionally, he has developed great communication and leadership skills that make him an exceptional team player. Kamal Moustafa Ezz Chief Information Officer (CIO) Kamal is a fourth year Computer Engineering student with previous co-op experience as an Embedded Systems Engineer at Blackberry. With a strong software background, he was able to develop Python scripts as well as Java libraries to control a multi-dimensional robot used for touchscreen testing. He also established an online database system for a chain of dental clinics to hold patients data, eliminating an annual average of 3000 paper files. He furthermore enhanced his software skills by building a SMS triggered pet food dispenser to help frequent travelers remotely feed their pets. He additionally developed an ios app to help track user s fitness along with their food intake. Aside from his vast technical knowledge, he has showed great leadership qualities as well as communication skills which led him become a senior martial arts instructor at a top class Taekwondo academy in lower mainland. 8
7. Conclusion Lex-Aid is committed to provide innovative technological solutions to assist the physically challenged readers. Lex-Aid proposes Flipp, a page turning device. The goal of the product is to empower all members of the society. Flipp will turn pages smoothly without causing any discomfort to the reader. It is important that the device flips only a single page every time. Lex-Aid will strive to ensure the final product is affordable and reliable. The proposal has outlined the overview of the project, it includes the system design, budgets & funding, schedule and the company profile. Lex-Aid is confident to be able to meet the specifications and adhere to the proposed schedule. With the low estimated budget costs and their expertise, Lex-Aid will deliver a product that will revolutionize the reading experience for the physically challenged. 9
8. References [1] The Joan Ganz Cooney Center. (2012). Print Books vs. E-books [online]. Available: http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/07/jgcc_ebooks_quickreport.pdf [2] Index Mundi. (2014). Canada Demographics Profile 2014 [Online]. Available: http://www.indexmundi.com/canada/demographics_profile.html [3] Employment and Social Development Canada. (2013). Canadians in Context People with Disabilities [online]. Available: http://mieux-etre.edsc.gc.ca/mismeiowb/indicator.jsp?&indicatorid=40 [4] Statistics Canada. (2014). Population by Year, by Province and Territory [online]. Available: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo02a-eng.htm [5] PageFlip. (2015). Products [online]. Available: http://www.pageflip.com/products.html [6] Central Intelligence Agency. (2015). The United States [online]. Available: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html [7] SFU Engineering Student Society. (2015). Engineering Science Student Endowment Fund [online]. Available: http://esss.ca/essef/ [8] Dr. A. Rawicz. (2015). Wighton Engineering Development Fund [online]. Available: http://www2.ensc.sfu.ca/~whitmore/courses/ensc305/pdf%20files/wighton_fund.pdf 10