Kate Bauer

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.