Getting Started with the Wearable Vibe Project
Alright, so I had this idea floating around for a bit. You know, sometimes you just want a physical nudge instead of another beep or screen flash. That’s where the whole “wearable vibe” thing kicked off in my head. I figured, why not try building something simple that vibrates?
First thing, I needed the bits and pieces. Jumped online and ordered a bunch of stuff. Didn’t need anything fancy, just the basics:
- Some tiny vibration motors, the kind you find in old phones.
- A small microcontroller board, I grabbed an ESP32 I had lying around. Cheap and cheerful.
- A little microphone sensor module.
- A small rechargeable battery, like a LiPo cell.
- Wires, solder, the usual suspects for putting electronics together.
- And some velcro straps and maybe some scrap fabric I found.
Putting It All Together
Okay, parts arrived. Time to get my hands dirty. I started by hooking up the vibration motor to the ESP32 board. Had to solder the tiny wires, which is always a bit fiddly. My first attempt wasn’t great, had to redo one connection because it felt loose.
Then, connected the microphone sensor. That was easier, just a few pins. Powering it up was next. Connected the LiPo battery to the board. Made sure the polarity was right – don’t want any magic smoke escaping!
Next up, the software side. Didn’t want anything complex. Just needed the ESP32 to listen to the microphone. I wrote a simple bit of code. Basically, read the sound level from the mic. If the sound got loud enough, over a certain level I picked, then zap! Turn on the vibration motor for a short pulse.
Testing and Tweaking
Plugged the ESP32 into my computer, uploaded the code. Crossed my fingers. To test it, I just clapped my hands near the microphone. Bzzzt! It worked! The little motor buzzed away. Pretty cool.
But it was too sensitive at first. It was going off constantly with just background noise. So, back to the code. Played around with the sound level threshold, tweaking the number until it felt right. Wanted it to react to louder sounds, not just any old mumble.
Making it Wearable
Now for the “wearable” part. The electronics were still just a messy bundle of wires and board. Not exactly comfortable. I quickly designed and 3D printed a tiny little case just big enough to hold the ESP32, battery, and motor. Nothing fancy, just functional.
Then I took one of those velcro straps, cut a couple of slits in it, and threaded it through the case. Slapped the whole thing on my wrist. It wasn’t the prettiest thing, but it stayed put.
Played some music nearby, tapped the table. The vibrations came through nicely. Not too strong, not too weak. A little buzz right on the skin. It’s a neat little feedback device. Still rough, could definitely refine the casing and maybe make the vibration patterns more interesting later. But for a quick project, just messing around with an idea, it turned out alright. It does the job – gives me that physical vibe I was looking for.
