iGlasses

Smart glasses that encourage proper reading habits :D

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Inspiration

As university students, we stare at screens 24/7. This exposes us to many habits unhealthy for the eyes, such as reading something too close for too long, or staring at something too bright for too long. We built the smart glasses to encourage healthy habits that reduce eye strain.

What it does

In terms of measurements, it uses a distance sensor to compare your reading distance against a threshold, and a light sensor to compare your light exposure levels against another threshold. A buzzer buzzes when the thresholds are crossed. That prompts the user to read a warning on the web app, which informs the user what threshold has been crossed.

How we built

In terms of hardware, we used the HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor as the distance sensor, a photoresistor for the light sensor. They are connected to an Arduino, and their data is displayed to the Arduino's seriala terminal. For the web app, we used Javascript to read from the serial terminal and compare the data against the thresholds for healthy reading distance and light exposure levels.

Challenges we ran into

In terms of hardware, we intended to send the sensor data to our laptops via the HC-05 Bluetooth module, but we're unable to establish a connection. For the web app, there are security protocols surrounding the use of serial terminals. We also intended to make an extension that displays warnings for the user, but many capabilities for extensions were discontinued, so we weren't able to use that.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We overcame the security protocols when making the Javascript read from the serial port. We also were able to build a fully functional product.

What we learned

  • Content Security Protocol (CSP) modifications
  • Capabilities and limitations of extensions
  • How to use Python to capture Analog Sensor Data from an Arduino Uno

What's next for iGlasses

We can integrate computer vision to identify the object we are measuring the distance of. We can integrate some form of wireless connection to send data from the glasses to our laptops. We can implement the warning feature on a mobile app. In the app, we display exposure data similar to the Screen Time feature on phones. We can sense other data useful for determining eye health.

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