Shaping the "privacy wearables" project idea

While we started working on electronic productions at the Academy I decided to research a bit better the idea of privacy aware wearables

• The problem
• The concept
• Project process
• Product research

The problem

Most of wearables and domotic devices on the market today are built on the business model that corporations are getting control over your personal private data. An example project could be a fitbit-like personal tracker device, or a robotic vacuum cleaner.

The long term core idea is to build a ecosystem of privacy aware and free (as in freedom) alternatives.

Example documentation on privacy concerns for wearable devices:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitbit#Privacy_concerns
https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8908-doping_your_fitbit#t=1180
http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/29/technology/strava-privacy-data-exposed/index.html

The concept

The concept is to have two wearables and a mobile phone app:

• Hip clip
• Wristband
• Android mobile phone app

Some of the devices decisions:

• wearables are mostly for sensors only (eg. no displays, limited buttons)
• interactions with wearable devices (optinal) happen through phone app
• with the digital fabrication process we can make wearables with personalised and nice visual designs/colours ;)

Hip clip:

• rechargable battery
• bluetooth module
• touch button (device pairing, on/off)
• sensors
  • accelerometer
  • altimeter / pressure
  • vibration motor
• structure
  • 3D printed case
  • either flexible 3D printed clip or magnetic clip (to be tested)

Wristband:

• rechargable battery
• bluetooth module
• touch button (device pairing, on/off)
• sensors
  • optical heartrate monitor
  • accelerometer
• leds for feedback
• structure: molded-cast band, 3D printed case / clip

Android mobile phone app:

• bluetooth pairing process
• encrypted communications (microcontrollers on the wearables need to support this)
• visualising & exporting data
• note: no cloud services, no user registration needed

Project process

1. Build the hip clip first
2. Build the app communication and interface
3. Build the wristband
4. Document reusable parts, website, community and campaign for researcing other devices

A Minimun Viable Product could be the fabrication of the hip clip (1.) and the mobile app (2.) only.
A prototype on the hip clip can ingore miniaturization aspects to have a quick working solution.

The long term goal is to build an ecosystem of privacy aware and free (as in freedom) wearable alternatives.

Project risks, issues and challenges:

• pro and cons of a miniusb interface for charging the batteries?
• design and fabrication of electronics
• interpreting sensors data (especially for heartrate sensor)
• …TODO

Product research

Wearables market trends: https://www.i-scoop.eu/wearables-market-outlook-2020-drivers-new-markets/

Looking for inspitations here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitbit#Accuracy

How a fitbit clip works?
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fitbit+One+Teardown/19889

How a fitbit wristband works?
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fitbit+Charge+HR+Teardown/59869
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Fitbit+charge+HR+Disassembly/56621

How optical heartrate sensors work?
https://www.quora.com/How-do-optical-heart-rate-sensors-work

Experimental ideas: Wireless charging coils: http://www.we-online.com/web/en/passive_components_custom_magnetics/blog_pbcm/blog_detail_electronics_in_action_75966.php