eat a lot more fruit, exercise more, drink a lot more fluids; early January is generally the time to carry out new Year’s resolutions. a lot of of the typical ones just need willpower, however if it’s staying moisturized that you’re targeting, then some assist is available. [Pepijn de Vos] created a LEGO cup holder as well as an accompanying desktop app that tell you precisely exactly how much water you’ve had so far, making it much easier to get to those eight glasses a day.
The fundamental concept is simple: the cup holder consists of a tons cell that senses the weight of your drinking vessel. If the weight decreases, then a message is sent to your PC outlining the amount lost. If the weight increases, then the glass need to have been refilled as well as the previous weight is disregarded. This way, the app just needs to add up all the amounts reported, without having to compensate for the weight of the empty glass.
The difficult bit was integrating a tons cell into the LEGO structure. It needed some fiddling with flex System hoses to make sure the platform’s weight rested only on the tons cell, while still being steady sufficient to safely hold a full glass of water. The tons cell is checked out out with an amplifier as well as A/D converter, while the USB communication is handled by a Teensy 3.
[Pepijn] customized an existing GNOME desktop widget to screen a cup icon as well as the overall volume consumed, which seems to work quite smoothly judging from the video embedded below. All the code as well as even a total set of LEGO develop directions are offered on the project’s Github page. If just tracking your fluid intake isn’t sufficient of a nudge for you, then inspect out this gadget that floods your desk if you don’t drink enough.