The Project
'Paint your heart out' is a haptic paintbrush that responds to a user’s heart rate to encourage stress-free painting for artists young and old. This project was assigned to challenge our electronic prototyping skills. Using the heart rate sensor proved to be difficult as the readings often changed. However, this was still a great project to work on and I learned a lot through the coding, prototyping and testing stages. I created the device by 3D modelling and 3D printing a snap-fit holder and programmed the heart rate sensor to detect fast heart rates. The final outcome was highly conceptual but I enjoyed the process nonetheless.
How Does it Work?
While holding a paintbrush of your choice, when your thumb is placed on the heart rate sensor, it will detect how fast your heart is beating. If your pulse reaches a certain threshold, the vibrations from the internal motor send a haptic response that tells you it is time to relax and slow down your breathing. This idea came about as an exploration of painting and its use as a meditative practice for some individuals.
Lessons Learned
This project, despite intending for it to be simple, was quite challenging for me. This was my first project using Arduino as an individual; previously I had worked in teams where I was not responsible for programming or hardware. I found coding the most challenging aspect of the project and struggled with that right until the submission deadline! The parts of this project that I enjoyed the most were the design and prototyping stages. I really had a lot of fun with the design of the brush holder and the concept behind it. I felt that I gained such valuable knowledge of Arduino, soldering, prototyping and problem-solving! I was very happy with my first Arduino project even though there were many shortcomings!
Completed in 2017 at the Korea Advanced Institue of Science and Technology
