Outcome

Overview of Problem

Feeding can be a time of anxiety for new parents. Trying to ensure that liquid is the right temperature can be even stressful. A baby’s milk is often heated using boiling water which could sometimes result in overheating and scald the baby. Traditionally, parents test the temperature by squirting a few milk onto their arm, relying on their sensory reaction to judge the temperature. This is messy and often inaccurate. While there are baby bottles with temperature readers on the market, we sought to design an ambient baby bottle that is connected to the internet to notify parents and uses LED lights to evoke certain emotions through color, intensity, and pattern.

Conceptual Design

Our baby bottle indicator is a ring that is composed of 16 LED lights which will tell users if the temperature is just right to feed a baby safely through ambiently showing different light displays. The baby bottle will use the waterproof temperature sensor to detect the temperature and based on its reading, the indicator will display a certain light pattern. We designed each LED pattern scenario to evoke a specific emotion that will inform the users if the liquid is safe:

• Color: red and orange
  
• Pattern: short blinks that rapidly change between red and orange
• Intensity: high intensity

• Color: pink, yellow, blue
  
• Pattern: randomly blink between pink, yellow, and blue
  
• Intensity: high intensity
  

• Color: blue and teal
  
• Pattern: slow transition between blue and purple
  
• Intensity: low intensity
  

Bill of Materials (sensors, input devices, actuators, and other components)

• Breadboard
  
• Particle Photon
• DS18B20 Waterproof temperature sensor
• NeoPixel ring - 16 x 5050 RGB LED
• 4.7k Ohm resistor
• 470 Ohm resistor
• 1000 µF capacitor
• Appropriate wiring

Storyboard

Prototype

The iterative prototyping process starts with programming the NeoPixel ring. Different patterns of light are controlled by different methods. Then, the temperature sensor is added to control when to call the certain method to activate the certain pattern of the light. The temperature is also set as a cloud variable in order to use IFTTT service.