Inspiration
Last quarter, we were all in the same computer science class. Quite unsurprisingly but unanticipatedly, that involved us spending hours and hours glued to the screen, coding for projects that expanded our coding abilities. However, this came with a trade-off. Many of us started developing problems at the base of our necks. Medical consultation blamed our incredibly skewed neck posture. We observed that as we moved along with our code, we dug into our screens: backs rectangle and necks parallelogram. Knowing the problem wasn't adequate enough, however; we would completely forget our posture while rigorously coding. We needed something to remind us of our bad posture.
How we built it
So, for IdeaHacks, we built what we fondly called the Neckinator (yes, it's a reference to Dr Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb). Every time you skew your neck beyond a certain threshold from a normal position you calibrate, it starts playing an irritating sound. However, we recognize that many college students use their computers with earphones on. So, every time you go into a bad position, a light goes off. But what if there's an alien from Mars at your feet and you need to quickly look at it? You don't want to get irritated for having a glimpse at something. So, as long as you promise to not keep that bent posture for a very long time, Neckinator won't trouble you. Moreover, the bluetooth connection will give you a history of your neck posture. In a sense, the Neckinator uses Pavlovian conditioning to ensure that it's user maintains a healthy neck posture.
We used an Arduino Nano connected to an HC-05 bluetooth and and SparkFun ADXL345 Accelerometer via a breadboard to build the Neckinator. We used existing open source codes for the accelerometer and bluetooth and built on them to our own requirements.
Challenges and Accomplishments
As freshmen who never used hardware or Arduino, we are very proud to have created exactly what we thought of. We essentially knew nothing before building the project. However, as we went on with the project, we learned how to make Arduino connections, take online libraries, and build and improve upon existing codes.
What's next for the Neckinator
Next, for the Neckinator, we could use Machine Learning models to have more accurate threshold and individualized experiences for every user. While it already is a very compact design, making it more comfortable and deployable would be another goal for the future of the Neckinator. Moreover, we could also obtain medical data for a more clinically accurate device.
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