Project Requirements

Summary:

Most of the organs in the human body need water to function properly. The best thing a person can do to start being healthy is to be adequately hydrated. Dehydration is associated with health issues, as small as dizziness, but also as big as kidney failure. In order to combat this everyday problem, our team has designed a way to track a person’s hydration status throughout their day. We propose marketing a water bottle that will measure liquid intake and calculate how much water the person requires based on how much water they have consumed. The part of the water bottle that tracks all of this will have a detachable compartment where it can also track the liquid intake of other water bottles so that the user does not need to drink out of the particular water bottle the detachment came with. Throughout the day, the user will get alerts when they need to drink more water, or on the rare occasion that they are drinking too much water. This project intends to get its user to be more aware of their water intake and hopefully improve their hydration.

Materials and Budget:

Given our 300 dollar budget for this project, I believe that our project will be well under that budget and we will have plenty of wiggle room for potential errors that may result in buying more materials. Below is a chart of the materials, quantities, and cost that are needed so far.

Deliverables:

WateringU will consist of three different components: the physical water bottle, the detachment, and the android app.

For the design of the water bottle, we are going to focus on the capability of our device exclusively for clear plastic water bottles. The critical attachment that will be paired with our water bottle will be a Ph Detector. The Ph Detector will have the ability to measure the Ph levels of different liquids that the user puts into the bottle. The information that we record from the Ph Detector will be sent to our app, which our app will then use to decipher the substance of the liquid that is currently in the water bottle.

The detachment is responsible for integrating all components of WateringU. The detachment will integrate our microcontroller- an Arduino micro + Peripheral (Adafruit Feather Line). One of the main reasons for using this particular microcontroller is the rechargeability of the device. This microcontroller has a built-in USB input, which will allow us to use a simple iPhone charger to charge the device. It will also include a custom-build cup-holder (similar to a manufactured cup-holder seen in a generic car)- made out of PBC pipe. The bottom of the cup holder will include a pressure sensor, which will be calibrated for our water bottle to measure the amount of liquid in the bottle. The final part to be integrated onto the detachment will be the light/color detector- which will be placed on the bottom of the bottom. This will allow us to properly collect data needed for the app, which will use it to decipher between liquids.

The last deliverable for WateringU is going to be our Android App. The app will be the backbone of WateringU - it will carry out the important functionality proposed. There are several important features within the app. The first feature will be a timeline (for the hours of the day) and bar graph to track the water intake over the course of a day. To increase user specification, the user will be allowed to put their personal information (bodyweight, etc.) into the app to tailor the app- which will, in turn, tell the user how much water they need. This feature is the underlying function that allows the app to be of use to the user. Depending on the amount of water intake, the app will send alerts to the user throughout the day to drink water. The app will also feature a percentage bar, recording the percentage of water drank vs water needed for that day. To increase user specification, the user will have the capability to add additional information regarding Hydration/Liquid Type.

Critical Features:

WateringU has several important features and characteristics. But there are two critical features that serve as the backbone of the project. They serve in conjunction with one another. Specifically, the second feature cannot work if the first feature fails.

The first critical feature of WateringU is measuring the amount of liquid the user is consuming. This feature utilizes both the hardware and software components of WateringU. The detachment includes the pressure sensor, which is calibrated to the mass of a generic water bottle. As the user drinks, the pressure sensor will send the data that is collected (via our blue tooth) to the app, and from there will measure the amount of water that is consumed on a per-hour basis.

In general, people are not going to drink just water. So it is important for WateringU to be able to discern between different liquids: whether it is water or not, which leads to recording the water percentages in different drinks.

This is our second feature- WateringU will distinguish between drinks from one another. The way we are going to do this is two-fold. The first part dictates whether it is water or not. The light/color sensor will be used to shine a beam of light through the device. The data collected from the sensor will be recorded in the App, which will then decide whether it is water or not. Information in the backend of the app, the app will then calculate the percentage of water in a non-water liquid.

Responsibilities:

For this project, every group member will partake in the various tasks required to complete the milestones however each individual will receive a managerial duty. This responsibility will require them to spearhead a specific portion of the WateringU where their main responsibility is to push the work and create times for the team to work in order to meet their specific deadline. The responsibilities for the project are as follows:

• Detachment - Brendan, Leonard

• Programming Microcontroller - Brendan, Sai

• App Development - Sai, Leonard

• Website/Deliverables Management - Sai, Karlee

• Budget - Brendan

Two manager roles have been assigned per task to ensure a system of redundancy as well as encourage collaboration. Budget is the only task assigned to one team member.

Risks:

The WateringU has three major risks.

The first of which is insulation. Considering that WateringU’s core functionality is a hydration detector, it goes without saying that many of the components will be close to water. Due to this, shocks would be common if we do not insulate the electrical components from water and moisture. Condensation is the main form of water we are worried about. Imagine a hot day. You have a cold drink in the WateringU. Drops of condensation inch closer and closer to the electronic parts. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. It is an easy job to insulate the main components by making the cup holder as water-proof as possible with insulation tape and other forms of electrical insulation. However, the tricky part is what happens to the wires and pH detectors that have to be in contact with at least some part of the water? Do we forego some parts of the pH method, or do we find some other way to circumvent this issue? Such thoughts and ideas need to be thoroughly thought about.

The second risk arises from accuracy. We, by no means, believe that our app and measurement apparatus will be 100% accurate. While we will strive to attain such accuracy, it goes without saying that there will be people who will strictly follow the recommendations that we give them in the app and through our recommendations will always be in line with the data given, it might not be in line with reality. For example, if someone goes to the gym a lot and wants to make sure his/her body is getting enough water, and we accidentally recommend to them too much water it would be counterproductive. Similarly, if they need more water, and our sensors indicate that they have already reached the optimal amount, it would directly lead to their dehydration. We need to find a way to ensure accuracy, and methods to do so require thought and careful analysis of each situation.

The third and final risk comes from the usage of different water bottles. People are picky about their water bottles, which is why we came up with the idea of a detachable feature. However, that is not without its challenges. In order to maintain a reasonable amount of accuracy, we had decided to attach a pH detector. When we transfer from one water bottle to another, we need to ensure not only that the insulation is safe, but also make sure that the sensors are accurate and work for the liquid inside the other water bottle. The risk here is that if we modify the first water bottle to have the pH sensor as an appendage, then we would also need to do the same for the newer water bottle, which would be tricky to do, and would backfire against our detachable cup holder idea, and make it infeasible.

The only major way to address these issues - insulation, accuracy, and feasibility - is to research the different ways others have gotten around similar situations. In order to resolve the insulation problem, we need to see how present-day smart water bottles and other appliances that have waterproofed themselves go about it. In order to be more accurate and ensure people are being sensible about our recommendations, we need to understand how certain other devices that keep track of calorie intake and other foods do it. Maybe we can learn something from them? And with regards to feasibility, we need to research and design different solutions to sensing pH. Something like detecting has probably been around for decades. People must have come up with a reasonable solution. The only thing that is stopping us is a lack of knowledge. This can and must be resolved.