Work in progress.
To start with the device making process I had to spent a lot of time remembering to how to use Arduino and made the list of important millstones for the project. Which helped me in the conceptual process too.
Experiments:
1. Just for an experimental purpose I started with the muscle wire as an actuator.
Soon the idea of “it” being an autonomous device with actuators (Electroactive Polymers) which would by force changed the motion of user’s wrist didn’t made any sense.
2. Accelerometer experiment.
I tried to map x-axis & y -axis tilt with a dual-axis thermal accelerometer. Since it measures acceleration & rotation with a range of+-3g, I thought it will be the best to use to measure both wrist flexion and extension. But soon I realized that its measuring PRONATION & SUPINATION which is forearm motion, not a wrist motion.
3. I went a head with alarm system and flex sensor idea and did some P-comp labs. The flex sensor lab was helpful to realize that I need a uni-flex sensor (one each to map flexion and extension) as bi-flex sensor gives a positive number on both wrist flexion and extension (As the flex sensor is bent in either direction the resistance gradually decreases.)– for now I got the flexion data.
For the alarm system, I am using the serial communication between Arduino and Processing (for now) but the alarm system will be connected to arduino.
Steps for processing sketch:
– Check the time spend in a particular degrees for a perticular amount of time. (flexion/extention and ulnary rotation) (Make a stop watch kind of mechanism)
– Map degrees with sensors’s analog output. (need goniometer)
– Sensor’s data in the form of numbers. If the data remains constant for 30mins (+- 10degrees) than beep the alarm (with +- 20 second error time)
– Set alarm and rest it if the break is taken.
– alarm time = unless break taken. (gradual increase in volume like in Oscars)
– time spend in neutral position = 0 (+-20 degrees)
– break = neutral position / exercises (random degrees for 10 mins)
– interactive graph (shows hourly, daily and weekly graphs of wrist health.)