Three Semarang State Polytechnic students (Polines) introduced a Qibla direction tool for the blind. The team consisting of Fajar Kurniawan (Electrical Engineering), Riadlotul Itqoh (Electrical Engineering) and Febi Nur Chusnaeni (Accounting) is part of a Student Creativity Program (PKM) team. The background of making this PKM is because of their concern for the condition of blind people who often find it difficult to determine the direction of Qibla. They made a new breakthrough in the form of a cap that can show where the Qibla direction is.
Chaired by Fajar Kurniawan, the team created a simple tool that can be easily used by users. The design of this assistive device was then named the Qibla Directional Peci for the Blind with Sound Output or it could be called PERAK GATRA.
Fajar admitted that the idea arose when he was in a place where at that time he was quite difficult to determine the direction of Qibla. Of course, this also happens to most people, especially to people who are blind. From there arose the desire to create a tool that can facilitate the determination of the Qibla direction.
This tool utilizes a compass sensor inserted in a cap and an Arduino nano as a data processor. The resulting indicating sound consists of eight cardinal directions and one sound that sounds when we are facing the Qibla. The sound can be heard using a spiral headset so that only the user can hear it. This sound output is selected to support the visually impaired condition. The components that are inserted into the cap are relatively thin. The components are placed in strategic areas so they don't interfere with the user and the caps are comfortable to use.
The trial was conducted on 10 participants and produced a good level of accuracy. Rizki, one of the participants, explained that the sound emitted by the cap sounded very clear, comfortable, and not disturbing during worship. Another participant also said this, "This cap is very useful, especially for the blind and the elderly, so that they will not feel restless due to mistakes in determining the direction of the Qibla again," said Sirot.
Fajar added that the tools he had made so far have shown the expected progress.
"Alhamdulillah, the results of the initial trial of 10 normal blindfolded people resulted in an accuracy value reaching 99% with respect to the original angle of the Qibla direction," he concluded.