In the real world my name is Chris Young and I live in Indianapolis. I have spinal muscular atrophy which is a type of muscular dystrophy. I never walked as an infant. Got my first wheelchair at age 5, power chair at age 10. Last July I just turned 60. For nearly 30 years I've been using an old Rolls Arrow from Invacare. I finally got to the point where I could not use a traditional joystick and was the wheelchair that was nearly 30 years old it was time to get a new one.
The dealer that I've been working with has taken nearly 9 months to give me a new chair. Much of that was waiting on demo equipment mostly light touch joysticks. The first couple that we tried were unusable. Finally came up with a bib mount that I was able to use in a test drive. It's a long story wide the unit that I ended up getting is not working out as well as the test drive unit. Right now I've got a glitch where I can't get the chair out of attendant mode. I posted another message here asking for help on that. I just wanted to post a message here in introductions section to say hi.
Mostly I'm a programmer with a degree in computer science but in the past several years I've been tinkering with electronics on platforms like Arduino and Raspberry Pi. I become somewhat of an expert in infrared remote controls and I've written a library for Arduino that makes it easy to build your own IR remotes. My most recent project is an IR TV remote and Bluetooth device that I operate with just three micro switches that I hold in my right hand. I like the IR functions for TV, cable box, DVR, DVD etc. off of a small oled display of the device. It will then transmit IR signals. It also has a Bluetooth feature that I'm using for switch control on my iPhone 6.
I mentioned that I just turned 60 last July. While some guys deal with aging by purchasing a Ferrari or a motorcycle or getting hair plugs I indulged myself with the purchase of a new 3-D printer. Mostly I've been using it to make enclosures for my electronics projects but is also coming in handy redesigning the bib mount for my joystick.
Here's a link to a blog post about that IR remote/Bluetooth device that I built. Although the Omni I really has IR built-in I did not know that when I purchased it. The Bluetooth module for R-net retails for about $500. I've got about $75 worth of parts in my IR/Bluetooth device. Anyway here's a link to my blog. It not only talks about the device but my long history of various ways I've controlled TV remotes and phones.
http://tech.cyborg5.com/2016/01/20/the- ... -built-it/
You can find more of my technical blog posts at http://tech.cyborg5.com/
I also have a more personal blog about my life and disability at http://mylife.cyborg5.com/
I have a tendency to over compartmentalize things. That's why I have five different blogs. Sometimes they cross over and I never know where to post
Anyway I look forward to participating in this forum. If there's anything I can do for anyone I would be happy to.
