1B – Arduino Project – we-cig

Group Members: Sara Johnson, Miles Peyton, Akiva Krauthamer, Brian Yang

Roles: Miles Peyton as tutor, Brian Yang as Integrator, Akiva Krauthamer as designer, Sara Johnson as scribe

 

Introduction

While smoking is a social activity between two people physically together, we aim to make smoking connect long distance friends. Our we-cigs come in connected pairs. When a person inhales, their friend’s cigarette tip glows, and dims as a the person exhales. We aim to communicate the intimacy of a friend’s breathe – a life sustaining act – while smoking – a life killing act. The e-cigarettes connect two people through their action and vices.

 

Video

 

Technical Notes

Our we-cigs use two electronic cigarettes triggered by the airflow of an inhaling breathe. The e-cigarettes’ built-in LED glows during inhalation, and is sensed by an ambient light sensor. The light sensor then sends out a wireless pulse, that talks to the friend’s wireless device, turning on their we-cig’s light.

The we-cigs are programmed using the Teensy 3.1 arduino to reduce the size to fit comfortably in a hand. We used the Wixel Wireless Module to connect the Social Cigs using a 2.4 GHz radio.

The form of the cigarette is chosen to be large enough to contain the hardware, while being held comfortably in one hand. The imprint of your friend’s hand is molded externally on to your cigarette. So the form suggests how to hold the device, but when picking up your we-cig, it does not fit perfectly in your fingers. Feeling the imprint of your friend’s hand is a reminder of the long distance connection.

 

Photos

Social Cig - Circuit Diagram

we-cig Circuit Diagram

 

Social Cig Internals. The e-cigarette is sitting between the Teensy 3.1 on the left and the wixel on the right.

we-cig internals. The e-cigarette is sitting between the Teensy 3.1 on the left and the Wixel on the right.

 

Code

See code here.