Have you ever been in a situation where you have forgotten when your next period is ? I have been in such a situation and hence I decided to make Cylo. It is a period tracker that visually represents what stage of your cycle you are at.
This idea initially originated from idea of preparing oneself in advance for the arrival of their period so that their period experience is smoother. However upon further discussion, the idea transitioned to how periods are stigmatized in many cultures and how Cylo is helpful in educating about periods as well as reduce the stigma behind periods.
Materials Used:
Acrylic Red and Amber
Foam board
Neopixel Led strip 5V
Soldering Iron
Solder
Wires
Wire Stripper
Wire Cutter
Multimeter
Adafruit Feather Huzzah esp8266
Breadboard
X-acto Knife
Laser Cutter
USB Cable to connect Huzzah
Hot Glue
Image used to trace out Illustration:
After numerous ideas, I decided to make my project on this form because my intention behind this was to celebrate womanhood and its powers.
Code:
// A basic everyday NeoPixel strip test program.
// NEOPIXEL BEST PRACTICES for most reliable operation:
// – Add 1000 uF CAPACITOR between NeoPixel strip’s + and – connections.
// – MINIMIZE WIRING LENGTH between microcontroller board and first pixel.
// – NeoPixel strip’s DATA-IN should pass through a 300-500 OHM RESISTOR.
// – AVOID connecting NeoPixels on a LIVE CIRCUIT. If you must, ALWAYS
// connect GROUND (-) first, then +, then data.
// – When using a 3.3V microcontroller with a 5V-powered NeoPixel strip,
// a LOGIC-LEVEL CONVERTER on the data line is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
// (Skipping these may work OK on your workbench but can fail in the field)
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#ifdef __AVR__
#include <avr/power.h> // Required for 16 MHz Adafruit Trinket
#endif
// Which pin on the Arduino is connected to the NeoPixels?
// On a Trinket or Gemma we suggest changing this to 1:
#define LED_PIN 13
// How many NeoPixels are attached to the Arduino?
#define LED_COUNT 56
// Declare our NeoPixel strip object:
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip(LED_COUNT, LED_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
// Argument 1 = Number of pixels in NeoPixel strip
// Argument 2 = Arduino pin number (most are valid)
// Argument 3 = Pixel type flags, add together as needed:
// NEO_KHZ800 800 KHz bitstream (most NeoPixel products w/WS2812 LEDs)
// NEO_KHZ400 400 KHz (classic ‘v1’ (not v2) FLORA pixels, WS2811 drivers)
// NEO_GRB Pixels are wired for GRB bitstream (most NeoPixel products)
// NEO_RGB Pixels are wired for RGB bitstream (v1 FLORA pixels, not v2)
// NEO_RGBW Pixels are wired for RGBW bitstream (NeoPixel RGBW products)
// setup() function — runs once at startup ——————————–
void setup() {
strip.begin(); // INITIALIZE NeoPixel strip object (REQUIRED)
strip.show(); // Turn OFF all pixels ASAP
strip.setBrightness(50); // Set BRIGHTNESS to about 1/5 (max = 255)
}
// loop() function — runs repeatedly as long as board is on —————
void loop(){
segment1(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 100); // Red
delay(5000);
segment2(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 100); // Red
delay(5000);
segment3(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 100); // Red
delay(5000);
segment4(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 100); // Red
delay(5000);
segment1(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 0); // off
segment2(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 0); // off
segment3(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 0); // off
segment4(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 0); // off
delay(5000);
}
void segment1(uint32_t color, int wait) {
for(int i=0; i<=15; i++) { // For each pixel between x and y
strip.setPixelColor(i, color); // Set pixel’s color (in RAM)
}
strip.show(); // Update strip to match
delay(wait); // Pause for a moment
}
void segment2(uint32_t color, int wait) {
for(int i=16; i<=31; i++) { // For each pixel between x and y
strip.setPixelColor(i, color); // Set pixel’s color (in RAM)
}
strip.show(); // Update strip to match
delay(wait); // Pause for a moment
}
void segment3(uint32_t color, int wait) {
for(int i=32; i<=45; i++) { // For each pixel between x and y
strip.setPixelColor(i, color); // Set pixel’s color (in RAM)
}
strip.show(); // Update strip to match
delay(wait); // Pause for a moment
}
void segment4(uint32_t color, int wait) {
for(int i=46; i<=56; i++) { // For each pixel between x and y
strip.setPixelColor(i, color); // Set pixel’s color (in RAM)
}
strip.show(); // Update strip to match
delay(wait); // Pause for a moment
}
// Some functions of our own for creating animated effects —————–
// Fill strip pixels one after another with a color. Strip is NOT cleared
// first; anything there will be covered pixel by pixel. Pass in color
// (as a single ‘packed’ 32-bit value, which you can get by calling
// strip.Color(red, green, blue) as shown in the loop() function above),
// and a delay time (in milliseconds) between pixels.
void colorWipe(uint32_t color, int wait) {
for(int i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) { // For each pixel in strip…
strip.setPixelColor(i, color); // Set pixel’s color (in RAM)
strip.show(); // Update strip to match
delay(wait); // Pause for a moment
}
}
Future Considerations:
For the future, I want to work more on the internet aspect of the project. While I was working on the IFTT, I was not able to find any apps that I could add data into to connect to the code. It is an area that needs further exploration.
Video Link:
Instructable Link: