GyroSpoon

Assistive spoon for people with Hand Tremor.

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Inspiration

We got the idea from the struggles that people with shaking hands go through when trying to eat. We wanted to make a tool that could help keep a spoon steady and make eating easier and more independent.

What it does

GyroSpoon uses an MPU6050 to sense unwanted hand shaking and servo motors to keep the spoon steady. It also has a temperature sensor to check the food temperature and an OLED display to let the user know what is happening.

How we built it

We made GyroSpoon with an Arduino, MPU6050, servo motors, temperature sensor, OLED display Li-Po battery TP4056 charging module and boost converter. The Arduino takes the movement information. Tells the servos how to move to help keep the spoon steady.

Challenges we ran into

Calibrating the MPU6050 and making the sensor readings clearer.

Stopping the servos from moving quickly or in an uncontrolled way.

Getting the temperature readings right from the LM35.

Handling drops in power when the servos use a lot of electricity.

Putting all the parts into a spoon shape.

Adjusting the system many times.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We made a working model that brings together motion sensing, moving parts to keep the spoon steady checking the temperature and giving the user information in one device.

What we learned

This project taught us a lot about working with electronics, connecting sensors controlling moving parts adjusting settings handling power reading analog signals and fixing hardware problems. Most of all we found out how testing and changing things is needed to turn a plan into something that works.

Whats next, for GyroSpoon

We want to make GyroSpoon smaller, lighter and more dependable. Possible future changes could be ways to keep the spoon steady better ways to handle the battery a smaller circuit board, the ability to connect without wires and better temperature readings.

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