Now that we completed the first few project posts, we will update the project posting structure.
For the weekly update posts, please address the following:
Week’s Accomplishments:
This week we started to develop our mobile application for our project. We’re using a backend framework and cloud storage called Firebase (www.firebase.com). This will save us a lot of time because we will not need to develop our own backend REST API.
We are also using a project management system called Trello( www.trello.com). Using this tool we can keep track of our work and schedule our next steps.
We finally bought all the hardware that we will need for our prototype, it included:
Problems:
We were planning to use a pulse sensor, but we figure out that most of them just works when you put the device on the tip of the finger or the device required a really precise position at the wrist to work.
Due to this problem we decided to change the pulse sensor for an accelerometer to detect falls. We are planning to detect when someone falls and stay on the floor for more than 10 seconds, if it happens we will send an alert e-mail at the same way as if someone had pressed the button.
Next week:
We are planning to finish the basic features from the mobile application and if the hardware arrives we will test if everything is working fine making sure that we can do everything that we want.
We have spent most of this week waiting for things to come in the mail so it has been a little anticlimactic. Without being able to see and feel fabric it’s hard to know the exact material we’ll want to use for the jacket. Because of this we ordered sample packs of Nylon, Ultrex, and Polartec Power Shield from a fabric supplier called Seattle Fabrics. Once those come in we’ll be able to make a pretty quick decision about what material we need to order.
We also ordered our materials on the electronic end. The Arduino Pro Mini and headers have arrived, and lights, and accelerometer should be here shortly. Also, We have already started writing the code for the computer.
Everything should be in by sometime next week so we’re excited to really get started building!
This week we learned more about the behavior of the velostat fabric. It is very sensible and we need to use it with neoprene to get better results. Our Bluetooth board didn’t arrive yet so we could not use it to start creating the code (we need to do some tests with the board). The seller sent us an email saying that we are supposed to receive the board in the next Tuesday. We didn’t met any cute animal to take pictures by the way :(.
This week involved a lot of futile effort to get some data out of my IMU. I’m using a library called FreeSixIMU to get 6DOF tracking data. The library in turn uses Wire library to communicate with the hardware using I2C. However, when trying to do this on my LilyPad simple board, Wire library fails to communicate with the IMU, possibly because the board does not support the SCL and SDA pins needed for I2C. I then tried to achieve the same on a second microcontroller, Adafruit Flora (which exposes the required pins). I barely managed to get Flora working on my machine (barely – Arduino likes to freeze a *lot* when using it), but still had no luck getting any kind of meaningful response from the IMU.
I plan to take the following steps to resolve or work around these issues:
1) Do a bit more testing with the Flora – I need to check whether I can get a simple example working on it, just to ensure that basic features like serial communication work properly.
2) Try the IMU on somebody else’s board/machine to make sure the thing isn’t defective.
3) I’m planning to reformat/reinstall the OS on my laptop, for unrelated reasons. If the problem is on the software side (quite possible, given all the trouble I had installing Flora), maybe it’ll go away.
I don’t have any tangible results to show for this first week, so I’ll instead post a picture of a cat that looks like Hitler:
He’s actually a very sweet cat and not racist at all. I met him on the grounds of Dolmabahce palace in Besiktas, Istanbul. There are many stray cats like him around here and they are all very docile. However, he’s the first one I found that resembles a genocidal dictator. I call him “Fluffy the Führer.”
This week I got materials that I ordered from Adafruit last week.
Fristly, I reaserched on the internet about what is the accelerometer and shift register and how they works. And then I tried to work with the 5V ready triple-axis accelerometer(+-3g analog out). So, I used conductive thread to sew accelerometer and lilypad to a piece of the fabric and tried wheather it was working or not throgh programming. However, I did not get the result that I wanted to have and it seems not working which I think maybe it is the connection problem. Therefore, next week I will tried to soldering it rather sewing and see if I got a better concultion.
I spent this week reviewing my circuit design because this is a very complex board with traces everywhere so its very easy to make a mistake. Luckily I did take a second look at it because I caught several faults that would have been detrimental to the functionality of the circuit. I’m hoping I caught all the errors, but realistically, I probably did not and will have to make another board.
With that said, I found this company called Oshpark that fabricates high quality PCBs for a very low cost. I ordered 3 PCBs for $13 including shipping which is phenomenal when it comes to PCB fabrication. Granted my PCBs are only about an 1″ x 2″, that’s still an amazing deal.
Submitting the PCB was a process in itself. I had to export all the required Gerber and drill files by Oshpark.
Upon doing that, I ordered all the components from Sparkfun and Digikey.
We will have a visitor from WARF on Tuesday, November 25th who will talk with us about intellectual property issues. This should be a great visit!
Team Members: Andrew and Emma
What We’re Going To Do: We’re developing a cycling jacket that incorporates sensors and LEDs as brake lights and turn signals to eliminate the need for hand signals. Additional features may include pressure sensors to contact emergency services in case of an impact, and vibrators to provide directions.
Inspiration: We felt that hand signals made by cyclists are not always clear or visible to drivers. Wearing this jacket could greatly improve the safety of cyclists.
Materials and Costs:
Fabric, Zippers, Velcro, Elastic, Seam Tape. Estimated cost: $90
LEDs, Accelerometer, Battery, Arduino. Estimated cost: $150
Steps/Timeline: We just ordered sample fabrics last week so we’re hoping they come in soon and will have a final fabric picked and ordered by next week. The technology has also been ordered. We hope to have a final muslin sample of the jacket completed by November 18th. The remaining time will be dedicated to completing the final jacket and testing.
Backup/Fallback: We are hoping to allow ourselves enough time for troubleshooting so that we will not need a backup/fallback plan. If this doesn’t happen to work we will create something less intensive than a full jacket and something that would be more like encased wire that you can put on over whatever you’re wearing (similar to what Jess suggested last week).
Concept Art:
Project Title – Safeband
Project Team Members – Eric Freitas and Victor Tavares
Description of what you are going to do – We want to build a wristband that allows the user to send messages in times of emergency. The wristband will connect to the user’s smartphone and by presenting a number of conditions and effects it will be able to send messages for help when something happens.
Concept Art –
Description of what inspired this project – There are already some improvements on security and awareness when you are on the streets, but when something like a car accident happens you need to receive help immediately and by sending messages to your family and to emergency numbers you will be able to receive the needed help sooner. There is a project in which they have put sensors on a hair clip and when sudden movements happened it would trigger the alarm and warn family and authorities, this project seems similar, but we think that a wristband is usable by both men and women and also that being able to customize the messages and who receives it is a major feature.
Description of Materials you plan to use along with the costs for these materials –
Small Arduino board – US$10,00
Bluetooth shield – US$25,00
Pulse sensor – US$30,00
RGB LED – US$8,00
Button – US$1,50
Battery – US$2,00
Steps/Timeline –
1st Week – Buy materials and see Bluetooth Communications
2nd Week – Work on send email
3rd Week – Design the app
4th Week – Work on vital sensors
5th Week – Testing and Debugging
6th Week – Final fixes
Backup Plans / Fallback plans – To use the last two weeks to test it thoroughly and, if needed, to simplify the project.