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.
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
So the database is built and the popper file sends a message back to the email when I run it. My phone does not send text messages to email addresses (not even the fancy one from Nokia!) So I’m going to have to borrow one to test this on a real phone but it appears to be working just fine from the computer email side… except I spelled “heute” wrong in my email.
Finally, my mobile project is working. I was trying to complete the assignment which essentially just sends a ping to the device which sent a message (send + respond.) The popper.pl file I was running did not seem to be resending the email. Finally, I checked the code and learned a very valuable lesson: do not name two things in the same program something that is almost the same (eg. email: ubicompkb; folder name: ubicomp07.)
Here is what it looks like when its working:
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.
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