blinryI've always wanted to build a compass belt, which indicates where north is using vibrations!
Today, I got the very first prototype working: A setup that vibrates when you point your smartphone north! ðŸ§
My thought was that smartphones already have good compass sensors, and can serve as a power supply – you just need to plug the belt into it!
But I might switch to a Bluetooth connection, an extra battery, and maybe a separate compass sensor in later iterations. It's just that simple sensors often seem to have a lot of drift…
I found a belt with a lot of holes a few weeks ago, and it seems like a good basis for the prototype!
So I designed clip-on holders for vibration motors (using #cadquery <3), and I'm now printing a bunch of them! :)
Trying to get stripboard layouts as small as possible is quite fun, and could make a good puzzle game, I think!
Thinking of soldering this together later, if you have ideas how to make the footprint smaller, let me know! :D
One problem I still have is that the wires of my vibration motors are *tiny*... They break off easily at both the soldering points, as well as the motor terminals. What's the usual way to mitigate this? #compassbelt
It's done!! First time I've ever used a stripboard! Now assigning the pins in software and first testing! So exciting! 😆 #compassbelt
Meanwhile, I'm printing an updated case for the vibration motors, which securely houses the fragile cables! Thanks to @psenough and @flauschzelle for the suggestion! :)
I assembled everything, and it works! <3 The vibration is very noticable through the belt!
It's controlled via a custom Android app, gonna tweak that tomorrow, and write documentation. :)
I built a haptic compass belt this week, that allows me to feel north using vibrations! ðŸ§
Here's how it works, and how you can build your own: https://blinry.org/compass-belt/
Daniel Lowe@blinry amazing! I've read that it's tough when you take it off after a long time.