Anxiume

Anxiume is a wearable/garment which might be considered as a human-to-human interface.

Its name is an acronym of the words anxiety and perfume. It consists of a wearable with a fragrance dispenser circuit inside. This circuit releases a pleasurable perfume for the wearer when s/he starts sweating and her/his heartbeat (bpm) accelerates.

It could help introverted and shy people to relax while they are in social events through the usage of scents.

The purpose of this device is twofold. On the one hand, it might be considered as a helpful device available to be used in our daily life. On the other hand, it is acting as a critique of our current dependence on technological devices. Such devices seek to provide us with a life without any problems in which we are absolved from facing our difficulties.

It is important to highlight that the principal purpose of the garment is not to act as a pleasant perfume generator, but rather resides in the properties and effects, that aromas can have on men and women.

In order to make the circuit, the next components will be necessary:

1. Pulse Sensor (we need the clip-earring to measure the pulse in the earlobe)
2. Arduino Lilypad + FTDI USB to Serial (or any microcontroller which works with 3.3V)*
3. USB Difuser
4. MOSFET (FQP30N06L)
5. Lipo 900 mAh (if you are not familiar with LiPo batteries, check this.)
6. Lipo 500 mAh
7. 10k Resistor
8. Protoboard
9. Wire
10. Essential Oils **
11. 20 x 40 cm of fabric (In my case, I used black neoprene)
12. Sew-on snaps
13. Heat-shrink tubing
14. Male pins
15. Access to a 3D printer

*In the following pictures, the microcontroller is a Bitalino. We bought it and found out that it was not possible to program it, so we used an AVR/ISP programmer in order to reformat it and use it as a regular Arduino. It is not the cheapest way to go, that is why I recommend to buy a Lilypad or any microcontroller which works with 3.3V.

** An essential part of this project is that every person is free to choose the scent to be vaporised. In this case, I suggest to buy a set of essential oils, but it does not necessarily need to be that one.
If you have a fragrance that you like, feel free to use it!

As you can see, the circuit is quite easy to build.

We have 2 Lipo batteries: The first one is connected to the diffuser through the step-up. The diffuser works with with minimum 5V, that is the reason why we cannot connect it directly to the diffuser.

The second battery is connected to the Lilypad and provides the necessary power to the Pulse Sensor. The Pulse Sensor will measure our bpm in our earlobe

In order to control the diffuser, we use a transistor, which will be connected to a digital pin from the Arduino/Lilypad. Every time that our pulse is higher than 120 bpm, the transistor will act as a switch and the diffuser will release perfume.

In order to use the diffuser in our circuit, it is necessary to open the plastic case and take it out.
We will find inside the circuit of the 2nd picture. There, it is shown where the + and - connections are.

It is necessary To solder one male pin to one of the ground (-) pins of the diffuser and another pin to the 5V pin (+) in order to connect it to the step up and the battery.

2. Connect the diffuser to the battery through the step up: We connect the 1-4V IN pin to the positive (red cable) wire of the battery, the 5V Pin to the positive of the diffuser and the 3 grounds (battery, step-up and diffuser) together.

3. The connection of the Arduino + Diffuser + Transistor was done following this tutorial in which they roughly explain how the transistor works as a switch controlled by the Arduino.

4. The Pulse Sensor is connected to the Analog Pin 0. The cables should be long enough to go from the neck to the earlobe.

Do not forget to connect all the GND together!

Once the components are connected, it is time to upload the code to the Lilypad and try out if everything works.

In the folder, there are 3 sketches:

1. "Anxiume-Difusor-octubre2018": the code regarding how to control the diffuser.

2. Interrupt & Timer_Interrrupt_Notes: Code from the creators of Pulse Sensor with some modifications. The original can be found here.

The container of the circuit is a 3D printed model.

The purpose was to create a necklace with a pseudo-futuristic look.

One of the main requirements is that it is big enough to contain all the components and it can be worn either by men or women. In this step you can find 2 files:

1. AnxiumeOct2018.mb is the original file exported as a Maya Binary file.

2. anxiume17102018.stl is ready to be 3D printed.

Of course, feel free to modify the design and make your own case!

For this version, I measured my neck and cut & sewed the fabric with my personal measurements.

As it is shown in the picture, it covers almost completely my neck. Of course, you are free to change the design and make it shorter or in any other color.

In this last step, we will solder the different parts of the circuit and put it inside the 3D printed case.

Once everything is connected and arranged inside the 3D printed case, we will use the necklace to hold it & it will be ready to be used!