Archive for the 'Thesis' Category

Poof! Its on the perf-board!

Published
by
kate
on April 9, 2007
in Thesis
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After many hours of soldering (and a few potential near-death experiences), the board is now soldered into place. I imagine there will be more versions, however, this one will be the working prototype for the armband.

A few issues I ran into:

- bluetooth sending signal (as identified by the red light on the blueSMiRF module) to data log window on laptop with no data showing up; solution: talking to vincent on the phone (who is doing a really awesome bluetooth project himself!), who ran through a short troubleshooting list with me in the morning and then told me everything was going to be okay, later in the day… checking the appropriate port in the Arduino Tools menu and making sure the microcontroller was set to atmega 168 (since I am using the Arduino mini now- thanks ilteris!)
- weird characters coming out in the serial viewer instead of numbers; this was caused by the connections not being soldered copletely- fixing the solder issue or connection between the TX/RX wires should fix this issue

- regulator was heating up and power not going to the entire board; hm… this one is embarrassing, though apparently not immediately obvious to myself and a few others- do connect the power to ground and ground to power (when i figured this one out, it was a relief, as I only had to change the way the battery wires were coming in) thank you, dory, for lending me your screwdriver so i could fix this little problem in the middle of the hallway at cooper union
- I needed to be able to take out the Arduino to re-program and therefore could not solder it into the board, so I found this little female-header looking thing that seemed to fit and soldered it instead- now the mini-Arduino can be removed without compromising the circuit (thanks chrisp!)

* the next step is going to be to pour some fairy magic dust onto the electronics to make them become “wearable”- this clunky little monstrosity may need extra fairy dust!

Mini Arduino w/USB

Published
by
kate
on April 2, 2007
in Arduino and Thesis
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Moving project onto a smaller Arduino (in addition to battery vs USB power source) will allow the project to become portable enough to test as an armband.

To Do: (to maintain sanity…)

Published
by
kate
on March 20, 2007
in Thesis
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1. Contact the following people:

- Vincent, to work with on MySQL, PHP & Bluetooth
- Jeungah Kim, regarding thermistor temp translations
- Ob/Gyn, for background info on fertility tracking

2. Play with Arduino & BlueSMiRF:
- make it smaller (aka: wearable)
- research anti-microbacterial fabric

3. Build mobile app to send readings to phone

4. Web UI for inputting data

5. PHP for invisible page that plugs data into database

* USER TESTING!!!!

Setting up Bluetooth Device

Published
by
kate
on March 1, 2007
in Cellphone Studio, Thesis and Ubiquitous Computing
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One of the core components of this project is the bluetooth device. I used the BlueSMiRF from Spark Fun Electronics. This will be placed within the wearable armband in order to track the body’s temperature. The potentiometer produces a large range of values whereas the thermistor gives either a 1 or 0. I am going to explore different resistors, as well as other thermistors in order to gain a more precise measurement.

The bluetooth device connects to the computer wirelessly, and did connect once to the mobile application which logs the data. However, the mobile application is no longer tracking data. I believe this is not an issue with the hardware but with the software. Currently, I am working on integrating the web interface into the MySQL database. This will allow users to enter data through a web UI and return a txt message during a certain point in each woman’s cycle.

Once this is working correctly, I will return to the physical and mobile components and get them to play nice together.

Part 1 : Web (Database) to Mobile

Published
by
kate
on February 14, 2007
in Cellphone Studio, Thesis and Ubiquitous Computing
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Ovü Mobile

Published
by
kate
on February 6, 2007
in Cellphone Studio, Thesis and Ubiquitous Computing
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Quick idea: Women who are trying to have children (or trying not to) can log their cycle into a website once and based on a 28 day prediction, receive information on their cell phones regarding what stage they are in their cycle.

Who’s it for: Primarily, its for couples trying to get pregnant. However, this is something that is beneficial for any woman because there are always going to be times when this information is useful.

When will people use it: A text message can be sent to retrieve information at any point during the month whern a woman is wondering where she is in her cycle.

Useful for the following people:
1. couples trying to get pregnant to know when ovulation occurs
2. women trying to avoid pregnancy based upon their cycle
3. any woman at the gynocologist trying to remember when her last period was- they ALWAYS ask!
4. those who plan vacations around such things

What data will I need: I’ll need a database to track the cycles of individual users and maybe (meaning, eventually) some kind of automatic notice system maybe that they can set up so the phone alerts at a specified day of the month.

Syntax: The user can enter in any of the following to retrieve information:
- !o, this will return the predicted date of ovulation
- !p, this will return the first day of her last period

Ovü 2.0 - It’s Back and Better Than Ever!

Published
by
kate
on January 29, 2007
in Cellphone Studio, Ovü, Thesis and Ubiquitous Computing
. 0 Comments

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This project began less than 1 year ago, in a class called Personal Expression & Wearable Technologies. The assignment was to hack an everyday object and create something wearable from it (taking into consideration the functionality & usability, as well as aesthetics.)

During that time, I was particularly interested and involved in methods of data aggregation and analysis. The thermometer is a device that registers biological data. I started research into thermometers and in discussing the idea with others, came across the basal thermometer. The basal thermometer can detect a more precise temperature change and women typically use a basal thermometer to track their fertility when trying the become pregnant (or in some cases, to avoid pregnancy.) The temperature is most accurate after a woman awakens and is still lying in bed.

The first iteration of this project was lingerie that has a basal thermometer incorporated into the design. This lead to questions involving comfort, ease of use, and also the inevitable, “What if you choose to sleep naked?” The purpose of the project was to make the whole complex process of tracking fertility more streamlined and even fashionable- eliminating the current levels of complexity that often fall on the shoulders of the woman and allowing couples to focus more on “other things.”

The Ovü went from lingerie to a lace armband that takes temperature under the arm. When the temperature changes to indicate ovulation, it plays a song. However, as mentioned in several blog posts, one may not necessarily want an employer to hear this tune if the armband is worn during work hours. Other issues arose.

The Ovü 2.0 aims to address these issues by adding a database functionality, as well as a mobile component. Revisions to this project will be posted on this blog during the course of this semester.

The Ovü

Published
by
kate
on May 14, 2006
in Ovü, Personal Expression & Wearable Technologies and Thesis
. 1 Comment

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A wearable thermometer that allows women to track their fertility in an easy and stylish way.

www.theovuproject.com

Description
Ovü is made up of a lace arm band, with a highly sensitive thermistor attached on the inside that picks up changes in the Basal Body Temperature (BBT) of a woman.

The thermistor takes the temperature in the underarm and tracks the changes from day to day. When the change is significant enough to imply a hormonal change (most commonly caused by ovulation), the device triggers a melody to play.

This offers a woman an easy and stylish way to track fertility.


Personal Statement
In speaking with someone about thermometers and my interest in temperature, monitoring and tracking, I was lead to the Basal Body Temperature (BBT) thermometer.

This thermometer, used by women to detect changes in temperature (which typically indicate ovulation), was interesting because of the specificity of the read-out, as well as the amount of effort needed to effectively use it. It seemed like such an effort to obtain the information and then after all that, the woman has to “get in the mood.” It seemed almost counterproductive.


Background
A woman trying to get pregnant (or in very small instances, the reverse) can track her temperature, using a Basal Body Temperature (BBT) thermometer, in order to find out when she is most fertile. The process is described below:

“To measure your BBT, use an older oral glass/Mercury thermometer, or a special BBT thermometer available at some pharmacies. For glass thermometers, shake it down before going to bed, and leave it close by and within reach. As soon as you awake, with minimal movement, put the thermometer in your armpit, next to the skin, and leave it for ten minutes. Record the readings for three to five consecutive days.”

Press
http://www.popgadget.net/body/wearable_fertil.php
http://www.eyebeam.org/reblog/archives/2006/05/wearable_fertility_tracker_1.html
http://coollect.com/gadgets/2159/wearable-fertility-tracker/

BBT Lingerie

Published
by
kate
on April 2, 2006
in Personal Expression & Wearable Technologies and Thesis
. 0 Comments

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Final Project Proposal

Project: BBT Lingerie

Objective: To allow women to track their ovulation in an easier and more stylish way.

A woman would typically track her temperature, using a Basal Body Temperature (BBT) thermometer, in order to find out when she is most fertile in order to become pregnant. The process is described below:

“To measure your BBT, use an older oral glass/Mercury thermometer, or a special BBT thermometer available at some pharmacies. For glass thermometers, shake it down before going to bed, and leave it close by and within reach. As soon as you awake, with minimal movement, put the thermometer in your armpit, next to the skin, and leave it for ten minutes. Record the readings for three to five consecutive days.”
- http://thyroid.about.com/od/thyroidbasicsthyroid101/a/5lies_2.htm

BBT Lingerie is a camisole, worn to bed, with a thermometer build into the fabric near the underarm. When the woman wakes up in the morning, she presses a button on the front part of her shirt (disguised as a lace or flower applique.)

This button turns on the thermometer and allows for the BBT to be taken, before she even moves out of bed (since moving affects the outcome.) The thermometer beeps when done and the reading shows up on the camisole where the woman can read it.

basalThermometer.jpgwearableThermometer.jpg3Mthermo.jpg

Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3

The current devices used for tracking basal temperature are BBT thermometers, which are typically used orally (Fig. 1).

There are thermometers available now that are one-time-use, such as the TraxIt® Wearable Thermometer (Fig 2). TraxIt® Wearable Thermometer is designed to monitor skin temperature continuously. It is thin, flexible piece of plastic made with adhesive. See link for more info. http://www.medicalindicators.com/pdf/Trax-FC-Tech-bulletin.pdf

These kinds of thermometers can take an accurate temperature, and are meant to be, to some extent, wearable (Fig 3).

Mechanics

The device will be built with a very sensitive thermistor. (See image below.) This model is called the NTC Thermistor: Type MC65. It is an insulated lead interchangeable chip thermistor.
Picture 2.png

Picture 3.png