iBreathe, A Breathalyzer Based on Hexiwear

Knowing the amount of alcohol you drunk is becoming easier using the iBreathe Breathalyzer project by Dave Clarke. You just have to blow in the alcohol sensor, then it pings the result to a smartphone app and to the cloud to document it as a table so you can see alcohol intake through time.

This breathalyzer with a custom Beer mug casing will let you know where do you stand on the scale form “Sober as a judge” to “Hangover incoming”!
Below the (foamy) surface, it has substance too: along the 3D-printed casing, it features an Alcohol click sensor hacked to work with 3.3V, a customized Hexiwear interface, and a smartphone app.

Trailer Video, you can check the full demo here

iBreathe Breathalizer took place at Hackster.io “Hexiwear: The Do-Anything Device!” contest in partnerships with NXP, AutoDesk, Mouser, MikroElektronika, and ARM mbed. Amazing prizes like Oculus Rift and JD humanoid robotic kit will be awarded to 6 winners.

Developed by MikroElektronika, Hexiwear platform combines the style and usability found in high-end consumer devices, with the functionality and expandability of sophisticated engineering development platforms, making Hexiwear the ideal form factor for the IoT edge node and wearable markets. It is completely open-source and developed in partnership with NXP.

This contest emphasizes the role of Hexiwear as the foundation for future IoT inventions. This powerful IoT development kit is a small and sleek, low-power device packed with sensors to quantify yourself and the world around you. Wirelessly enabled, it can connect both to devices nearby – or to cloud servers far away. With Hexiwear you can create your own smartwatch, remote sensor tag, or sophisticated home controller. Plus, it comes with preloaded apps to give you a fast start.

In order to build this project you will need:

• 1 x NXP Hexiwear
• 1 x Hexiwear Docking Station
• 1 x Alcohol Click Board
• 3 x 10K Resistor
• Access to a 3D printer (for the design)

For software development you need access to these platforms ( iOS compatible)

• A www.mBed.com Login
• Xcode (for the custom iPhone App)
• A www.wolksense.com Login

The Hexiwear Docking Station is an expansion board for Hexiwear, the wearable IoT development kit. It provides an interface for programming, debugging, and enhancing Hexiwear with additional functionalities by adding click boards.

Alcohol click carries an MQ-3 Semiconductor sensor for alcohol. The gas sensing layer on the sensor unit is made of Tin dioxide (SnO2), an inorganic compound which has lower conductivity in clean air. The conductivity increases as the levels of alcohol gas rise. Alcohol click has a high sensitivity to alcohol and it can be used to detect alcohol in concentrations from 0.04 to 4mg/l. To calibrate the sensor for the environment you’ll be using it in, Alcohol click has a small potentiometer that allows you to adjust the Load Resistance of the sensor circuit. Alcohol click communicates with the target board through AN (OUT) mikroBUS line. It’s designed to use a 5V power supply only. While Hexiwear’s analog input is 3.3V, this sensor was hacked by adding a voltage divider on the output pin of the Click Board.

A speaking version is an update to the original project. For more details and step-by-step tutorial go to the project page on hackster.io to get a complete walkthrough, including descriptions, 3D models, and code snippets.

The deadline for the contest has passed and winners will be announced on 21 Oct 2016. More information about other contestants are available here.

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