CleanHands

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  Working prototype (1/3)

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  Working prototype (3/3)

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  Working prototype (2/3)

Inspiration

This was inspired by a similar project my friend was discussing with me. The design goal was to make a product that allowed children to get excited and stay engaged with personal hygiene (in this case washing your hands). My take on this concept was to also consider the sustainability of this device. As it is design to be attached to a faucet and help time children on how long they should wash their hands, it ideally also would be powered by the forced of the water, making the system self sustaining.

What it does

It gives a countdown timer from the moment it is power (being when the child turns on the faucet). With colorful lights and bright letters to keep their attention and give the child enough time to thoroughly clean their hands. When the countdown is over it ideally would play a tune or give some reward for completing the recommended 20 seconds of hand washing.

How I built it

The main components I had on had to build this project were an Arduino Uno and various electrical components, including a 4 digit seven segment display, LEDs, resistors, and a shift register, with all of the code being written in C++.

Challenges I ran into

I have a motor that could theoretically provide power for the device, but after some calculation I would require a larger motor to sustain every component I wanted to add. This power limitation comes in part that I was restricted to the usage of an Arduino Uno instead of an Arduino Nano, which would greatly cut back on power needs. Other challenges included the fact that I had to learn how to write code for a seven segment display and it's corresponding shift register to save enough pins on the Arduino for the rest of the components.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I figured out how to properly write code for a 4 digit 7 segment display, both with and without a shift register! As well as some insight into the power requirements for different Arduino models and just how powerful these devices really are even when you're working under intense restrictions.

What I learned

Dont hook up a shift register the wrong way, you might burn it out.

What's next for CleanHands

If I ever get the chance I would love to model and 3D print a cage for all the "final" components a completed version of this product would have. Seeing the entire design together in your head is one thing, but in the real world it might be more clunky than I'm imagining and the practicality would come into question.

Built With

• arduino
• c++