Align

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  Align

Inspiration

As students, we sit a lot, and it leads to bad posture. Eventually, it becomes chronic back pain, so we wanted to create something to help us fix our posture.

What it does

Align is a set of sensors that detect the curvature of the spine. When the user reverts to a bad posture, Align activates a buzzer at the problem area as a reminder to straighten up.

How I built it

We built it with a set of flex sensors. The flex sensor works by changing its resistance when it is curved. By strategically placing the sensors along the spine and shoulder, we can detect the user's back position.

Challenges I ran into

The sensors broke so we had allow for engineering fail-safes such as hot gluing all the connections.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The sensors are very sensitive and detect even slight changes in posture. Our algorithm is able to deal with the minute changes and only gives a signal when needed.

What I learned

How we improved

We got rid of all the duct tape and used a compression shirt to allow for more accurate readings. We were also a lot more organized with our wiring. With the use of a photon, we were able to make our device smaller and wifi enable our device, making the user interphase wireless. We also developed an app that our users can utilize to calibrate and control settings for our product.

What's next for Align

Next stop for Align is integrating it into a comfortable and discrete tank top. Additionally, we want to have a good enough precision to use it for exercising.

Built With

• flex-sensor
• photon
• vibration-motor