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Home Page
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Welcome Page
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Dashboard
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Nutrition
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Skin Analyzer
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Daily Meetings
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Mentorship Session
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Figma Designs
Sun exposure and Vitamin D Tracker
Smart Sun is a sun exposure and vitamin D tracker integrated with Particle's iot device.
Things used in this project
Hardware components
Particle Argon IoT device
Software apps and services
Particle iOS App
Air Visual Weather and Air Pollution API
Cloud-Hosted Mongo Database
Inspiration
Working from home has made it more difficult to go outside. This has contributed to a lack of exposure to sunlight, which causes low vitamin D levels.
We wanted to create a solution that would help us get enough sunlight to live a healthier lifestyle. Studies have shown that getting sunlight first thing in the morning contributes to a rise in Vitamin D levels and a healthier lifestyle.
With this in mind we set to develop Smart Sun. Smart Sun is an application that uses the Air Visual API to check the weather and air pollution level and suggest times when it is safe to go outside.
What it does
Smart Sun uses Particle’s Argon Iot device to detect a user’s location. This device can be connected to your home wifi or cellular hotspot. The IoT device can be worn on your clothes or even just carried in your pocket. Just connect to your cellphone hotspot, login into the Smart Sun app and hit track to start tracking your sun exposure. If Smart Sun detects that the air pollution level is too high or the sun is too strong, it will let you know that it is not safe to go outside.
Iot connectivity
• Remote monitoring via web or smartphone
• Ability to connect to your phone’s hotspot, so it can be used outside
• Real-time location updates using particle’s device cloud
How we built it
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Control Logic
We used the Particle’s Web IDE to create a firmware file that uses Google maps device locator library. When the firmware is flashed to the device it returns the geocoordinates of the Iot device. This is run on a loop so it constantly updates the device’s location.
Dashboard
You can signup for a Smart Sun account. Once you signup, you will connect your Iot device to your phone’s wifi spot and it will send your location to the particle cloud.
You will then navigate to the Smart dashboard to start tracking your sun exposure. If the sun is too strong or there is too much air pollution, it is not advisable to go outside. On days when it is not possible to go outside you can take vitamin D supplements or eat foods rich on vitamin D.
You can track your progress by logging your food and supplements on your dashboard under the nutrition tab.
If you are not sure how much Vitamin D you need you can go to your dashboard and go to the skin analyzer tab and it will tell you how much vitamin D you need based on your skin type.
Challenges we ran into
Since we are from 4 different countries, it was difficult to find a time that worked for all of us. We planned daily meetings at 10 in the morning PST but for Rabbia and Bo this was usually night time.
We also had trouble integrating our Iot device to work with our project. Aside from Amaranta, none of of had worked with Iot devices. Figuring out how to get geocoordinates from our Iot device took a couple of days to figure out.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Working in a team with people from 4 different countries was a great accomplishment. We were able to communicate effectively and deliver a working product even though we all came from different cultures and timezones.
We set up a mentorship session with Lizzie Lee from McKesson Ventures. Her background in mechanical engineering and investing encouraged us to simplify the user interface, and think of the different users we are targeting.
What's next for Smart Sun
Smart Sun would be offered as preventative care. We would have three users: employers, insurance companies and members.
• Employers would benefit from this app because healthy employees have high performance, low absence and overall better health.
• Insurance companies would decreases their risk of expensive surgeries and medical treatments.
• Members would have a tool to take control of their health.
In the future, we will add more features to our app as well as well as continue to develop our existing features including the nutritional tracker, skin analyzer and incorporating wellness and exercise tips.
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