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IFMBEProceedingsVol.14/53010Volume5Track16ADrinkingWaterMachineDesignedforTheBlindShih-ChungChen1,Shih-ZhangHsieh1,C.K.Liang1,S.W.Lin2,C.M.Wu2,C.H.Yang2,T.H.Huang2,C.H.Luo2,M.C.Hsieh2,D.T.Fuh21DepartmentofElectricalEngineering,SouthernTaiwanUniversityofTechnology2SunshineAuxiliaryDevicesResearchGroup,Tainan,TaiwanAbstract᧩Mostofdesignsforwatermachinejustconsidernormalpeople'sdemands,butthedemandsofthedisabled,forexample,thedemandsandinconvenienceoftheblindpeoplewhileusingthewatermachine.Thisresearchconsideredinconvenienceoftheblindwhentheyusethewatermachine.Weredesignedmultipleintelligentfunctionsinatraditionaloff-the-shelfwatermachine,includingLEDdisplayforthetemperatureofwateroutput,differentfixedvolumeofwateroutput,multi-languagevoiceoutputforthetemperaturelevelandthevolumeofwateroutput,voicewarningfortheminimumlimitandthemaximumlimitofthewaterlineinthetank,buttonswithbraillehints,redundantwatercollectorwithconcentriccirclesfillistersdesignedfortheblindtofindtheoutletpositionconvenientlyetc.Thisintelligentwatermachinewedevelopedisnotonlyconvenienttousefortheblind,butalsofornormaluser.Itissafer,convenientandsosweetwhenpeopleusetheintelligentdrinkingwatermachine.Keywords᧩drinkingwatermachine,blind,BrailleI.INTRODUCTIONWatermachineisonekindofcommonelectricalappliancefordailylife.Notonlynormalpeopleneedit,butalsotheblindpeopleneeditmore.Therefore,thefunctionsofwatermachineandtherequirementsfortheblindpeople[1,2,3]shouldbewhollyconsideredinadvanceduringtheproductdesignprocess.Itwillbeagreatadvantageforbothofnormalpeopleandtheblindpeopleifthewatermachinehassomespecialfunctionsfortheblind.Somedaythespecialwatermachinewillbeapopularproductinthemarket.Generalwatermachinesdevelopedfornormalpeopleusuallyhastwoorthreeoutletsfordifferenttemperatureofwateroutput.Ingeneral,watermachinecanoutputdifferenttemperatureofwater,forexample,hotwaterandwarmwater,evencoldwater.Thetwoorthreedifferenttemperatureofwatercanflowoutfromdifferentoutletsinthroughdifferentpathways.AccordingtotheIconsandwordshintonthecontrolboard,theusercanchooseandputthecupunderthecorrectoutletandpushtheswitch/buttonforthedesiredwateruntilthewateroutputisenough,tofinishthegettingwaterprocess.Thewatermachinesupplyingtwodifferenttemperatureofwaterusuallyhastwotanksinside.Oneiscalledhottankwhichismadeofstainlesssteel.Itwasconnectedtothehotwateroutletthroughthepipepathway.Waterinsidethehottankcanbeboiledwhenevertheuserpushestheswitch/buttonforboilingwater.Theotheriscalledwarmtankwhichismadeofplasticmaterial.Itisconnectedtothewarmwateroutletthroughtheotherpipepathway.Warmtankisalsoconnectedtohottank.Ifwewanthotwatertobecooldownandsaveitinsidethewarmtank,wecanswitchthevalvetolethotwaterinsidethehottankgothroughthepipepathwayintothewarmtank.AsMentionedabove,generalwatermachinewithtwoindependentwateroutletsusuallyincludestwotanksforsavingdifferenttemperatureofwater.Usercanpushthedifferentswitch/buttonforchoosingdifferenttemperatureofwatertoflowout.Viaobservingthestructureofgeneralwatermachineandtryingtocompletetheprocessofgettingwater,wefoundthatusermusthavetheabilitytoseeanddistinguishtheswitches/buttonsandthepositionsofwateroutlets,thenusercancompletetheprocessofgettingwater.Itiseasyfornormalpeopletocompletetheprocessofgettingwaterbyusinggeneralwatermachine.However,thedesignofgeneralwatermachineisinconvenientfortheblindtocompletetheprocessofgettingwater.Anintelligentwatermachinefortheblindisdevelopedourresearch.Thephysicalcaseofanoff-the-shelfgeneralwatermachinewasdisassembledandreassembledasthephysicalcaseoftheintelligentwatermachine.Alltheinternalpipepathwayandelectroniccircuitsinthegeneralwatermachinewereredesigned.Thelocationsandtheshapesoftheswitches/buttonsonthecontrolboardwererearranged,too.Especially,Braillehintswereaddedbesidetheswitches/buttonsfortheblindpeople.Thenormalprocedureofgettingwaterfromthegeneralwatermachineisasfollows:(1)findingthewateroutletforthewarmwaterorhotwater(2)putthecuponthecorrectpositionunderthedesiredwateroutlet(3)turnontheswitch/buttontoletthewaterflowout(4)watchingthevolumeofwaterinthecup(5)releasetheswitch/buttonwhenwateroutputisenough(6)ifnecessary,movethecuptotheotherpositionundertheIFMBEProceedingsVol.14/5Volume5Track163011otherwateroutletforgettingtheothertemperatureofwater,repeatingthesameprocedure.Theprocedurementionedaboveisveryeasyfornormalpeoplebutfortheblind,becausetheblindpeoplecanseenothing.Designofgeneralwatermachineisnotonlyinconvenientbutalsodangerousfortheblindpeople.Becauseofseeingnothing,theblindpeoplecouldbeseriouslyhurtbythehotwaterorboilingstream.Theaimofourresearchistofindthebestwaytohelptheblindpeopletousetheintelligentwatermachineveryconvenientlyandsafely.Thenewfunctionsoftheintelligentwatermachinewedevelopedincludescupauto-detection,voiceoutputforalloperationguideandsafetywarming,differentfixedvolumeofwateroutputs,LEDdisplayforthetemperatureofwateroutput,Braillehintsforallswitches/buttons,aredundantwatercollectorwithconcentriccircularfillisters.II.MATERIALANDMETHODSThehardwarearchitectureoftheintelli