Introduction: LOC

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

The main objective of this project is to design, program and create a prototype of a wearable which stimulates the senses of the user to communicate with him/her. Therefore, our proposal is to design a wearable to ease finding a friend in the context of a big concert or a music festival. It’s a situation where some of our senses are overwhelmed by loud music, stage lightning, physical contact with other attendants… Finding yourself alone all of a sudden due to this scenario is not hard at all, and most of the times mobile data is not working well when so many people gather in the same place, so it’s impossible to contact with each other. Taking that into account, we thought of creating a wearable that both locates all the user’s friends and leads him/her to them.

Due to the price of the Arduino components needed to develop this project, we have focused on creating the guidance system, so the user experience can be fully studied in relation to what the user actually feels and finding an intuitive way to lead him/her through the crowd on an agile and non-invasive way for the user, allowing him/her to enjoy the show at its maximum.

Supplies

_ Vibration motors (x2)

_ 220 Ohms resistors (x2)

_ Arduino One

_ Accelerometer MMA8452Q

_ cable

_ kinesiologic tape _9V battery

_ Battery Snap-On connector clip

Step 1: The Code:

/*

Arduino Project. LOC

Miquel Paulí

Marta Tudurí

Noemí Vives

*/

#include // Must include Wire library for I2C

#include "SparkFun_MMA8452Q.h" // Click here to get the library: http://librarymanager/All#SparkFun_MMA8452Q

MMA8452Q accel; // create instance of the MMA8452 class /* Arduino Project. LOC

int a = 2; //define and iniciate variables. This is the motors pin.

int b = 3;

void setup() {

pinMode(a, OUTPUT); //Define vibrating motors as outputs.

pinMode(b, OUTPUT); Serial.begin(9600); //Comunication channel to view the sensor's lecture.

Serial.println("MMA8452Q Orientation Test Code!");

Wire.begin();

if (accel.begin() == false) { //Checking if the accelerometer in on.

Serial.println("Not Connected. Please check connections and read the hookup guide.");

while (1);

}

}

void loop() {

if (accel.available()) { // Wait for new data from the accelerometer

// Orientation of board (Right, Left, Down, Up)

if (accel.isRight() == true) { //When the accelerometer is titled to the right, the right motor vibrates

digitalWrite(a, HIGH);

digitalWrite(b, LOW);

Serial.println("Right");

}

if (accel.isLeft() == true) { //When the accelerometer is titled to the left, the left motor vibrates

Serial.println("Left");

digitalWrite(a, LOW);

digitalWrite(b, HIGH);

}

else {

digitalWrite(a, LOW); //When the accelerometer senses it's facing the right way, the motors stay on standby.

digitalWrite(b, LOW);

}

}

}

Step 2: Electronic Assemble

_ To connect the vibration motors, we will be using extra cable to be able to reach the Arduino board. The Black cable must be welded to the ground, and the red one to a 220 Ohms resistor, and then to a port (2 and 3).

_ The accelerometer must be connected to the ground of the Arduino One (through the ground pin), the 3.3V pin will be connected to the 3.3V port, and the SCL and SDA pins are connected to the A4 and A5 ports to transfer its data analogically.

_ Using the battery Snap-On connector clip, the battery must now be connected to the Arduino One board to provide the necessary power to the wearable.

Step 3: Wearable Assemble

_ Once the electronic assemble is ready, the kinesiologic tape must be cut in a shape that both adapts to the back of the ear and hides the electric components. The shape must be cut four times.

_ Each side of the wearable is conformed by one vibration motor and two pieces of kinesiologic tape. To mount it, the motor is placed on the sticky side of the first piece, and then this side is covered with the second piece of tape, with the sticky side facing the opposite direction of the motor. This way, the user will be able to stick it behind its ear.

_ With the vibration motors ready to be integrated to the user, two more pieces of tape are needed to place the accelerometer to the nape. Therefore, the shape will be different to adapt it to the accelerometer. With the tape cut, the accelerometer is placed in the sticky side of the tape, and covered with the second tape just like with the vibration motors.

Step 4: Funcionality

_ LOC is a very intuitive wearable that uses the user’s senses to communicate through sensible vibrations behind the ears.

_ It locates the person you are looking for and traces a straight line from your position to theirs.

_ Depending on what direction the user’s looking at, the vibration motor will indicate to which side he/she must turn to be facing their missed friend.

_ Finally, the user will only need to walk on a straight line, and if their friend moves, LOC will keep on updating the information to retrace the path.