C-way is a GPS wearable that allows kids to have fun and parents to check their whereabouts.
It’s tough being a parent these days — a glimpse of the news makes that abundantly clear. Parents have the responsibility of protecting their children, but it often requires a fine balance. Kids also need their space in order to develop their independence and to experience their childhood.
Luckily, C-way is a device that can help with balancing these two challenges. The stylish wearable allows kids to enjoy themselves with various add-on modules. The product is geared towards children, providing a plug and play concept that enables 3-6 year olds to personalize their gadget with LEGO figurines along with games like hide and seek. As for the 8-10 year old crowd, the device becomes a bit more advanced as it displays icons, text messages and even the time.
Not only does C-way function as a wristband, watch, compass, scheduler and entertainment console, its GPS locator feature lets parents monitor their children’s location and the approximate distance between them using its accompanying mobile app. You can even keep tabs on up to three kids at once! What’s more, should the wearable ever be removed, an alert will be immediately sent with their last whereabouts.
Upon opening the unit, simply scan the QR code with your smartphone to directly link the two. As its creators reveal, “No need to enter any number, IMEI, or phone number. No Wi-Fi or Bluetooth pairing needed.”
In terms of hardware, the C-way is equipped with a GPS and GSM antenna, a GPS locator, a SIM card and a 330mAh lithium-ion battery with a lifespan of about a day. Meanwhile, its watch add-on sports an 128 x64-pixel LCD screen and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity.
THE O will make sure you never leave your valuables behind again.
With people always on the go and in a rush these days, it’s easy to leave important things behind by accident. Even if you’re on alert, an item can slip out of your pocket or purse without your knowledge. But thanks to THE O, not anymore.
Billed as “a comprehensive virtual personal assistant,” the smart accessory will notify you as soon as you forget or misplace one of your belongings. THE O can easily attach to just about anything, from your keys and wallet to your jacket and briefcase. The wearable unit comes in three different models: original and octopus (gunmetal rhodium), luxury (gold plated), and light (rubber).
The accessory works by connecting to an accompanying mobile app via Bluetooth and alerting you only when it needs to, acting as a virtual leash when you’ve moved too far away from your item. THE O can also check your essentials for you before leaving the house in the morning or after getting up from lunch, storing GPS location and time then marking needed items on appropriate days.
Focusing on a minimized size and a waterproof feature, its creators have designed a custom PCB to fit into its special ABS shell. The devices are assembled through ultrasonic welding, and a small PET slip is used to connect to the circuit. THE O itself measures only 4mm x 39mm x 29mm in size, so it’s certainly mall enough to be slipped into a pocket, sewn onto an umbrella or clipped onto a bag. Aside from that, the device’s coin-cell battery boasts a life of around 18 months.
Currently live on Kickstarter, THE O team is seeking $48,606. Pending all goes to plan, the first batch of units will ship in February 2016.
Maker builds an over-sized, electro-mechanical backpack with a shoulder-mounted, self-firing Super Soaker.
Don’t you hate when people invade your personal space and get up in your business? What better way to send a message than by squirting them with a water gun? However, having to manually target people with your soaker of choice can be a tedious task, especially if there is an entire army of time-wasting, close-talking friends or colleagues approaching you. Luckily, there’s an automated solution that will do the trick. Introducing the Personal Space Defense System (PSDS).
The brainchild of DJ from Instructables, the system is described as an “over-sized, electro-mechanical backpack with a shoulder-mounted, self-firing water gun.” While this isn’t the first robotic buffer zone defender, it’s perhaps one of the coolest — and most applicable nevertheless. (Anouk Wipprecht’s Spider Dress is still pretty sweet, too!)
How it works is pretty straightforward: If someone encroaches upon your personal space, an embedded sensor pendant will detect the invader and the Super Soaker Electro Storm will blast a few shots of water towards them.
Aside from the stripped-down water gun, the Maker employed several electronic components to make the project a reality. These included an Arduino Micro (ATmega32U4), an IR distance sensor, a PIR motion sensor, a laser diode, a power switch, an illuminated switch, a 2200mAh 7.4V LiPo battery, a voltage regulator, a MOSFET, a bunch of resistors, a transistor and a capacitor, as well as a number of other off-the-shelf supplies.
The PSDS is comprised of three main parts: a shoulder-mounted water gun, a sensor-laden necklace and a trigger mechanism. As AJ explains, pressing the power button activates system while pushing the trigger button will toggle between armed and disarmed modes. Once the system is armed, the gun will flip up and the attached laser diode will power on.
What’s more, he removed the original case of the Super Soaker to reduce the weight and allow for easy direct electrical control. This enabled him to wedge the water gun and reservoir into a channel bracket and actuate it by a geared servo.
“For ease of mounting and added comfort, I designed the system to be mounted to a regular backpack. The pack provides a sturdy mounting point for the main tube and proto-board for the electronics,” AJ adds. “The gun assembly is a bit hefty, so to balance out its inherently wobbly nature, I created a counterweight that has a mount for a camera. I ended up attaching a GoPro.” (This will surely capture some hilarious clips!)
The program running the PSDS is a basic Arduino sketch, which the Maker has made available, along with the Bounce library that will need to be installed. Those wishing to build a personal space defending wearable of their own can head over to AJ’s Instructables page, where you’ll find a detailed breakdown of the project.
Inspired by birds, TheSixthSense is an ankle device that gives wearers a better sense of direction.
Release a homing pigeon thousands of miles from home, and it’ll find its way back using its innate ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field. Following the same principles, Maker Sebastian Foerster has developed what he calls “an extra sense for a better orientation.”
Initially inspired by his father’s balance disorder, TheSixthSense is an ankle-worn device that uses vibration motors to help guide a wearer in the right direction. Ideally, a gadget like this could one day prove to be invaluable for the visually-impaired, for those with a lack of orientation and in environments where there is limited visibility.
The wearable itself is comprised of a small, two-layer circuit board featuring an ATxmega32E5 at its core, along with an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a LiPo charger, a 2.5V LDO regulator and some MOSFETs to drive the set of vibration motors. TheSixthSense is also equipped with a 700 mAh LiPo battery, which boasts a life of about 30 hours before needing to be recharged. To program the system, Foerster employed Atmel Studio and the Atmel Software Library.
TheSixthSense must be calibrated before wearing. Once completed, the program is ready for magnetometer readings. Simply push its small button and turn the PCB around the different axis; push again and the calibration data is written to the EEPROM section. Beyond that, an accelerometer is used to make a tilt compensated compass, which means the exact position of the PCB on the anklet doesn’t matter all that much.
“However, the inconstant movement speed of the foot is a problem. When you walk the ground vector is moving with the acceleration of your feed. Since the acceleration is raising and falling in one step an additional filter is required to determine the true ground vector,” the Maker explains.
Once the magnetometer output is read, the two vectors can be used to calculate the angle to magnetic north. Afterwards, the correct motors are activated and set to the desired intensity.
“For my first test, I used four motors. As it turns out, four motors don’t work well enough when it comes to exact positioning. The shin isn’t sensitive enough to detect the small differences between two vibration sources. The solution for my second prototype is to use eight motors,” he adds.
“At the time, TheSixthSense works well and it is rather comfortable. I have been wearing it for three days during my time in the office and nobody could hear the vibration,” Foerster writes. “Nevertheless, in a noise free environment, it is loud enough to be heard by other people in the same room. It can be easily washed since all of the electronic parts can be taken out of the belt.”
Looking ahead, the Maker hopes to improve its filter, test adaptive vibration time, create a case for the circuit board and battery, as well as integrate Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity. More on TheSixthSense, which is currently a semi-finalist in this year’s Hackaday Prize, can be found on its project page here.
Zac Posen teamed with Google’s Made with Code to create a black dress that displays a pattern created by LED lights.
More and more, we’re seeing the fashion and technology worlds come together in ways never before imagined. There’s your less ‘out of the ordinary’ wearable devices like fitness trackers and watches, but then there’s smart garments that can do everything from react to your body’s temperature and mood to ambient sound. With the advent of conductive thread, mini microcontrollers and a burgeoning Maker community, the possibilities of what can be sewn and coded together are truly endless.
Demonstrating just that, Google’s Made with Code and Zac Posen teamed up to show how computer science can push the boundaries of what’s possible in fashion using technology developed by Maddey Maxey and electronics from Adafruit. Students had the ability to log onto Made With Code and select a mysterious LED-based project.
At the time, the girls had no idea as to what they were contributing to but were excited nonetheless. The result? An interactive dress converging Posen’s “Los Angeles at night” inspiration and the students’ coding skills that debuted at the finale of the Zac Posen Spring 2016 Fashion Show, which kicked off New York Fashion Week.
All eyes were on the LED-embedded dress worn by Coco Rocha as it dazzled the runway inside a packed auditorium at Manhattan’s Industria Superstudio. The black piece featured short sleeves and a mesh skirt, along with 500 tiny lights that were programmed to emit different animated patterns — all controlled by an Adafruit FLORA (ATmega32U4).
“There is nothing greater than the fulfillment of creating something and seeing it come to life — to light up,” Posen explains.
Not only did they get to have a hand in designing the LED sequences, but 50 girls had the chance to attend the show and witness their collaborative effort light up the catwalk. For those of us who couldn’t experience the magical moment firsthand, Adafruit was lucky enough to capture it for us all to see! Watch below!
A new wearable sensor from the University of Michigan will provide more accurate and continuous fluid status data streams.
A team of University of Michigan researchers have developed a wearable sensor that could one day provide doctors with a simple, portable and completely non-invasive way to measure fluid status — the volume of blood that’s traveling through a patient’s blood vessels at any given time.
This sensor could perhaps be the answer to an age-old problem that has perplexed physicians, which is how to precisely determine the right circulatory volume is for an individual. Fluid status is a diagnostic measure much like heart rate or blood pressure. It can alert doctors when a cardiac patient has excess fluid that prevents their heart from pumping efficiently or provide a more precise measure of how much waste fluid to filter out of a dialysis patient’s blood. Additionally, it can tell a medical staff how much fluid to give to a trauma patient who has lost blood or a septic patient with an overwhelming infection.
At the moment, though, getting an accurate measure of fluid status requires an ultrasound or the insertion of a specialized catheter that measures the pressure of blood flowing through a blood vessel. Both tests are expensive and complex, and must be administered in a hospital by an expert. University of Michigan’s wearable sensor could change that by making measuring fluid status as simple as strapping a smartphone-sized device to a patient’s arm or leg and asking them to take a deep breath. And because it can be worn for extended periods of time, the unit could provide doctors and caregivers with an unprecedented amount of real-time data about fluid status.
The device works uses a process called Dynamic Respiratory Impedance Volume Evaluation, also known as DRIVE, to measure the changes in “bioimpedance,” or electrical conductivity, of the wearer’s limb as they breathe. Blood is an excellent conductor of electricity, so a patient with more blood will have greater conductivity. It’s quite similar to the ultrasound method of measuring fluid status, which directly captures the changes in the vena cava, the body’s largest vein. But instead of using the vein size to calculate fluid status, the new device gets the same information by measuring bioimpedance. While they may not be the first ones to use approach, the team is the first to incorporate fluid status measurement into a wearable gadget.
“You can absolutely, with DRIVE, track how much circulating volume someone has by taking this new vital sign and combining it with the treatment outcomes we expect. We can use it as a new way of honing in on where we want a patient to be and where are they currently,” says Barry Belmont, a biomedical engineering doctoral student at the University of Michigan.
According to Belmont, the new sensor is easy to use and requires minimal expertise, making it an ideal option for the intensive car unit, a small clinic, an ambulance, in an accident scene or even on the battlefield.
What’s more, the researchers say their technology could effectively make fluid status another vital sign. Current measurements like heart rate and blood pressure are diagnostic measurements that have been in place for decades or more. However, these methods don’t accurately address issue that patients experiencing trauma, undergoing dialysis, or septic patients commonly have in that they can’t capture the amount of blood flowing through a patient’s blood vessels.
“This could turn fluid status into a routine diagnostic tool, the way we measure heart rate and blood pressure today,” reveals Kevin Ward, executive director of the UM Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care (MCIRCC). “It has the potential to improve care and lower costs for millions of patients, and I think it’s a great example of how collaboration between fields like engineering and medicine can have a direct benefit on the lives of patients.”
The team has been testing a benchtop version of the sensor, built from off-the-shelf components, for more than a year. At the heart of the wearable itself lies an ATmega1280 MCU, while an Arduino Mega was employed for much of the benchtop validation process. The systems works by sending small amount of electcricity around the limb. As it moves through the limb, the current either travels faster or slower based on the amount of blood volume. This actually enables them to count the number of respirations and how deep a wearer is breathing.
A real-time stream of fluid status data could even help doctors provide better treatment to patients who need additional fluid, like sepsis patients. The researchers predict their current round of testing will continue through the end of this year. If the trials are successful, the device will go to the FDA for approval.
“We’ve gone from something that’s fairly large with a comptuer and a tabletop to something that resembles a Nano iPod that you can wear on your arm,” Ward explains.
WatchDuino2 is an inexpensive, ATmega328 based smartwatch for Makers.
Last year, Mar Bartolome created an inexpensive, open source wristwatch based on Arduino. The aptly named WatchDuino consisted of an ATmega328, a crystal oscillator, a Nokia LCD screen and a LiPo battery with a life of about a week. As you would expect, the ultimate Maker device displayed the date and time in both analog or digital formats, and came preprogrammed with two all-time classic games, Pong and Snake.
And guess what time it is? Time for the next iteration of the popular gadget! WatchDuino2boasts a new and improved design that Bartolome built entirely from scratch, taking some of its predecessor’s best attributes (such as its Arduino Pro Mini core) and combining them with enhanced features, namely Bluetooth. Equipped with a BLE module, the watch can now wirelessly communicate with an Android phone, allowing it to rival the likes of other commercial gadgetry.
Thanks to its pairing capabilities, the WatchDuino2 can share phone notifications (SMS, emails, calls and appointment reminders), access Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, as well as receive weather and mass transit alerts. Aside from that, users can even send battery status updates from their watch to the phone and visualize this information in graph form.
“The trick is that all of these apps also require an Android component in the WatchDuino Android companion app, doing all the heavy lifting and simply passing WatchDuino the results to display, via Bluetooth,” Bartolome explains.
Additionally, the WatchDuino2 boasts a much better user interface than its older sibling with a 128 x 64-pixel display. Much like any cellphone, a status bar sits at the top of the screen while contextual symbols located on all four corners indicate the purpose of each corresponding button on the side of its case. These functions change, of course, depending on which application a wearer is using.
“For instance, in the main menu you can move left and right, enter or exit,” the Maker writes. “On the Twitter app, you can request a reload, or navigate between tweets.”
Unlike the first version of the timepiece, the Maker 3D printed a modular strap to house the electronic components — the Arduino, battery, LiPo charger and buzzer/vibrator — within each of its links. This left only the screen and buttons enclosed inside the actual watch case.
As any Maker would say, there’s still plenty of work to be done and revisions to be made. Among those on Bartolome’s list include refining the code and app framework, reducing its form factor and improving its battery life. At the moment, WatchDuino2 can run for about 18 hours after a 20-minute charge.
Maker designs a wearable device that lets you know the time and if you’ve had too much to drink.
While it may need some refining before you ever wear it for a night out on the town, this recent wristwatch from mechanical engineer David Ng is pretty cool nevertheless. Admittedly, seeing it takes up nearly five inches of real estate along your lower arm, the device is more of a gauntlet than a bracelet.
The watch is comprised of a seven segment LED display, a three-axis motion sensor, an alcohol sensor, a real-time clock module and an Arduino as its brain. Powered by a USB power bank, the electronics are all housed inside a 3D-printed case and band.
The display is controlled by the motion sensor, which triggers the lights on as he lifts up his arm to read the time. When his arm returns to the resting position, it automatically switches off. Not only can a wearer use the device to check the time as it gets late, but can do a quick breath check before leaving a bar or party to ensure that they are in okay shape to drive home. If the alcohol content in their breath is a wee too strong, an alarm will sound alerting them that it may be best to summon a taxi or Uber ride.
Designed as an alternative to the traditional cane, this wearable device lets a user intuitively “feel” the distance to obstacles in his or her environment.
A semi-finalist in this year’s Hackaday Prize, Maker Neil Movva has developed a non-contact, long-range alternative to the traditional cane. As its name implies, Pathfinderis a sonar glove that enables a visually-impaired wearer to navigate around obstacles by quickly scanning the surrounding environment.
Pathfinderworks by measuring the distances of objects in close proximity and then translating the data into gentle pulses that are felt at the wearer’s fingertip. The closer something is, the faster the taps; conversely, the further away, the steadier and slower the tap. With practice, theglove lets a user point and get a sense as to how far away an object actually is, up to 500 centimeters.
With an ATmega328P as its brain, the gadget is comprised of an inexpensive ultrasonic sensor, a transmitter and receiver operating on 60kHz sound waves, a haptic driver, an accelerometer/gyroscope combo chip, a vibration motor, and a LiPo battery.
“Of course, we have a very popular AVR running the show. The TQFP package is remarkably easy to work with at the home lab level, and of course the chips themselves take a lot of abuse when prototyping. I’ve deployed dozens of these across the various prototypes Pathfinder has been through, and it isn’t leaving anytime soon. (Low power, simple layout, easy SW dev),” Movva writes. “When we get closer to production, however, I’ll consider moving to an ARM chip (SAM series, maybe?) that might offer more HW amenities at the price of increased complexity.”
The ultrasonic sensor, which is interfaced with the ATmega328P and mounted at the head of the device, sends out an inaudible signal. These are transmitted towards the target and are reflected back to the sensor. By multiplying the time it takes to complete a roundtrip by the speed of sound, and dividing that by two, the Pathfinder can calculate the distance to a nearby thing. This data is then processed by the embedded MCU, which pulses a small pinky motor through a pair of transistors for haptic feedback. Aside from that, an accelerometer provides contextual awareness, allowing the wearable to sleep when inactive or when the glove is facing the floor. In its original prototype form, the LiPo battery pack offers 20 hours of continuous operation.
“In the end, the glove came together well enough to be tested under typical use conditions. I found that there was a significant learning curve in using the glove for precise, fine motor tasks, but basic large obstacle detection was easy enough for untrained, fully blind users,” the Maker adds. “On my own, I was able to perform more scientific trials, and so I designed a repeatable gauntlet of tests that I or other sighted users could perform while blindfolded to demonstrate typical use of the device.”
These experiments consisted of picking up a glass of water on the table, locating a person in an open area without initial orientation and navigating around an open area with randomly placed obstacles. Fortunately, Movva was able to pass all three tests after getting used to the device.
Looking ahead, the Maker intends on improving the Pathfinder’s design with a shrunken-down board, swapping out an 8-bit AVR for a 32-bit ARM chip, reducing power consumption, incorporating gesture recognition and supporting Qi wireless charging. The goal was to provide the blind with a new way to navigate their environment, one in which does not require physical interaction and can be used at long ranges. Mission accomplished, Movva! You can explore the Maker’s project in more detail on his Hackaday.io page here.
ŌURA is a ring-sized wellness computer that helps you sleep and perform better, without the bulkiness and distractions of other wearables.
“TheŌURA ring may well be the first sleep tracker that works. I met the founder, and backed their Kickstarter,” Tim O’Reilly recently tweeted in response to the revolutionary wellness computer’s newly-launched campaign.
Although health monitors have gotten smaller, more precise and sleeker over the last couple of years, they still tend to be a bit too bulky for unobtrusive 24/7 wear, especially during sleep. So what’s more convenient than sporting a bracelet around your wrist? A ring on your finger, of course!
With a form factor like ŌURA, the device can fit snugly against your skin and accurately capture the body signals necessary for measuring and interpreting your sleep habits, physical activity and other performance-related indicators. What’s more, you’ll notice that the wearable gadget lacks a display and buttons, removing unnecessary distractions from our lives. Instead, the unisex ring communicates to an accompanying mobile app via Bluetooth.
ŌURA can automatically detect when you’re asleep. During your slumber, the ring analyzes the quality of your rest and recovery by keeping tabs on your heart rate, respiration, body temperature and movement. When awake, it monitors the duration and intensity of your activities, and the time you spend sitting down.
Its app then collates and visualizes this data to identify patterns between your sleep quality and daily routine. By understanding how well you slept and refueled, it can determine your readiness to perform and help you adjust the intensity and duration of your day’s activities accordingly. Aside from that, the water and scratch-proof ceramic ring offers personalized recommendations on how to maximize your active periods and improve upon your nighty shut-eye.
“The ŌURA ring works without demanding your attention, or distracting you and your lifestyle. The ring knows when you go to sleep, and when you wake up, when you are active, and when you are sitting. It uploads data to your phone automatically,” the Finnish startup writes.
Should you not have your phone, the ring can still function as a standalone computer with its own temporary memory, which can store data for up to three weeks. And once your mobile device is nearby, ŌURA will sync back up.
In terms of hardware, the ring is built around an ARM Cortex-M0 core and features Bluetooth Smart connectivity. Its 40mAh Li-ion battery boasts a life of about three days, and can be easily refueled by placing it inside its just as aesthetically-pleasing charging station. Simply drop the ring inside when it’s running low and it’ll juice up in an hour.
Even more, the data generated through ŌURA can be merged with other health-related information. In fact, the team is already collaborating with We Are Curious, which allows users to track and chart multiple data streams at once, including daily consumption (caffeine, alcohol, sugar), sleep aids you might be trying (valerian, melatonin, acupuncture) and other factors in your environment (barometric pressure, CO2, pollen count).
Sound like a wearable health monitor you’d like to have? Hurry over to its Kickstarter campaign, which has already surpassed its $100,000 goal. Units are expected to ship in November 2015.
