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  • Author Author: dougw
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Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factors System - ARM Car - blog 13

dougw

This last week has seen a lot of time on mechanical CAD and 3D printing to try and squeeze the MQTT subscriber system into a wearable package.

I called it the ARM Car because it looks like a car and it is a TI ARM chip to be worm on an arm.

Here is a picture of the ARM Car driving down the information highway:

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Starting with the high stack of circuit boards - it is non-trivial to figure out how to make it wearable:

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The package is assembled from 4 main plastic sections, a wrist bracket, a base, a cover and a bezel:

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Here is a picture of the parts (the bracket is already screwed to the base):

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Note the battery also has a 3D printed bracket and the rods for the strap are also 3D printed.

Here is a picture of the system in operation:

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Here is another angle showing the height and the fit on my arm:

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The system was always going to be fairly big, but it turned out to be a nice robust package that can be securely and comfortably strapped to an arm and is  super easy to use. The only control needed is the power button on the battery, although the 3 switches on the Launchpad are all still accessible.

It isn't too visible in these photos, but the various LEDs inside really illuminate the plastic, creating a nice effect without being annoyingly bright.

I have printed some parts for the other 3 armbands (radiation sensor, electromagnetic sensor and chemical sensor), but am still waiting for some parts to show up before they can be finalized. I have a couple of other RF sensors that I may blog about too, but I don't think I will be able to fit them on my arm. When the 4 armbands are all complete I will take some video.

Hopefully I will get to a discussion of RF hazards in my next blog.

 

All links to blogs related to this project can be found in the first blog here:

Safe and Sound - Invisible Hazardous Environmental Factors Monitoring System - blog 1

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  • Very nice work getting that stack of boards in a nice little package.  The battery holder is a cool addition.

     

    Seems like you are cruising now.

     

    Cheers,

     

    Jon

  • in reply to jomoenginer

    Thanks Jon,

    I wouldn't say cruising - more like leaving the worst for the last.

    Most major uncertainties have been pretty much eliminated except for calibration, but there is still a ton of work to complete.

    • Design work is about 80% complete
    • the mechanical build is about 25% complete
    • the electrical build is not started
    • the research blogs are about 80% complete, but the next one is the toughest
    • the software is about 25% complete, and of course the last 20% could take 80% of the time
    • functional testing is about 20% complete
    • calibration hasn't been started
    • hazard survey tests are about 15% complete
    • parts ordering is probably over 90% complete, but lots of parts have not arrived yet

    So overall much less than 50% complete. I kinda wish I didn't stop to asses progress - I realize I still have a mountain to move.

  • in reply to dougw

    Doug,

     

      Sorry, I didn't mean to get you to asses the status of your project in such detail, but hey, at least you know where you are.

     

    Actually, I was playing on your "ARM Car" reference with my "cruising" comment.

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