Planet Arduino

Giant wristwatches are so hot right now. This is a good thing, because it means they’re available at many price points. Aim just low enough on the scale and you can have a pre-constructed chassis for building your own smartwatch. That’s exactly what [benhur] did, combining a GY-87 10-DOF module, an I²C OLED display, and an Arduino Pro Mini.

The watch uses one button to cycle through its different modes. Date and time are up first, naturally. The next screen shows the current temperature, altitude, and barometric pressure. Compass mode is after that, and then a readout showing your step count and kilocalories burned.

In previous iterations, the watch communicated over Bluetooth to Windows Phone, but it drew too much power. With each new hardware rev, [benhur] made significant strides in battery life, going from one hour to fourteen to a full twenty-fours.

Take the full tour of [benhur]’s smartwatch after the break. He’s open to ideas for the next generation, so share your insight with him in the comments. We’d like to see some kind of feedback system that tells us when we’ve been pounding away at the Model M for too long. 

[via Embedded Lab]

Filed under: Arduino Hacks, wearable hacks

WatchDuino is an open hardware project that combines inexpensive electronic components and a complex Arduino (C++) code to build a useful and reprogrammable smart watch.

The code and the components have been optimized after a lot of prototypes to provide a rich set of features with a small and cheap battery that can last more than a week without recharging. A lot of electronic and software engineering was required to make this project possible.

WatchDuino – Arduino watch - [Link]

This watch, by Jonathan Cook, recently won MAKE’s Arduino Challenge, as posted on Bits and Pieces from the Embedded Design World. [via]

The watch is the latest iteration of an ongoing BLE watch endeavor Cook has been exploring for the past nine months. In addition to time and date functionality, he’s building interfacing that any smartwatch wearer would want — email, Facebook notification, Twitter updates, etc., and hopes to have the community further the platform as well.

Atmel-based smartwatch wins Make challenge - [Link]

Arduino-compatible brain, Bluetooth LE connectivity, 3D-printed case, and open-source design.

Read more on MAKE