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University.
This is the place where life begins.
The place where friendships are forged.
The place where memories are made.
We are constantly doing the things we love,
meeting our closest friends,
playing our favourite sport,
and setting our dreams for the future.
But with all the reports, assignments, essays, and deadlines,
we all end up feeling tired at some point.
There will be a point in the day
when you feel that your energy levels are at its lowest
and you just can’t go on anymore.
Be it during your lectures,
during your lessons,
or even during your breaks,
fatigue can hit you anytime, anywhere.
But what is wrong with taking a little nap?
Well, naps are very delicate,
and if not taken properly, it would lead to various problems such as
lack of concentration, sluggish behaviour and poor physical stamina.
So how do we recharge that battery of yours, and get you back on your feet?
Presenting
Napknot™
Napknot studies your energy levels throughout the day
and gives you that extra push when you are at your lowest.
Through our research, we found that wakefulness can be measured using various indicators in a person
such as brain wave activity, blink rate, galvanic skin response, breathing rate and heart rate.
Since these are very personal factors,
we realised that wearable technology would be a suitable direction to head towards.
Given the limitations of the other indicators mentioned earlier,
we started off with using galvanic skin response to measure wakefulness.
Galvanic skin response, in short GSR,
is the phenomenon whereby the skin momentarily becomes a better conductor of electricity
when the body is aroused by external or internal stimuli.
To keep it simple, two electrodes are placed in contact with your skin,
and a small current is passed through to measure how resistive your skin is.
When you are aroused, your skin conductance will increase, that means the skin resistance measured would drop.
We started off by building a simple GSR sensor to test the accuracy of the values,
and we developed the design to make it something more wearable,
exploring forms of a chain, wristband and a ring.
We realised that the ring gave the most accurate reading of GSR,
but even then we could not precisely zero in on the point where fatigue hits.
So we decided to add in a heartrate sensor, in order to have a secondary indicator
which would allow us to more accurately detect the moment before falling asleep.
We experimented with various types of heart sensors and integrated the best one into the wearable prototype.
We tested out various methods of waking up a person;
using light, sound, vibration
and even the smell of coffee.
Some of them proved to be really effective.
However, in order to keep to our design goals of creating a personalised device,
we picked vibration as it could be easily integrated into a wearable device and does not affect those around the users.
We continued to explore various techniques and methods of improving our prototype,
fabricating several iterations until we finally achieved a wearable device
which could pinpoint the moment right before you fell asleep,
and vibrates in order to wake you up.
Looking ahead, we hope to develop the prototype into a marketable product,
and integrate it into the lives of every student.
We believe that Napknot will vastly improve the energy levels of the user throughout the day,
as it will study and adapt to the user’s individual needs and lifestyle.
Napknot.
Reenergising you,
from within.