In this repo, you'll find details about our journey to make a little PCB board that counts steps and keeps you entertained!
You can take a look at the schematics in the /pcb directory or just keep reading this!
If you want to look at the software of the Incremental Podometer, check out this repo
So first, what is the Incremental Podometer?
It's a podometer! (No waaayyyyy)
But. With. An. Incremental. Game!!!!!!
You'll get stats about your physical activity, but you'll stay entertained! Amazing, right?
So we started to brainstorm a bit and came up with a list of essential components:
- A screen (needed to have a UI for the game)
- A microcontroller (with CircuitPython — I don't code in C)
- Some buttons (our first idea was 8 buttons)
- An accelerometer (for counting steps)
With that in mind, we started looking individually at these components:
First, for the microcontroller, we chose a Pico W because it's cheap, easy to use, and mainly because it has wireless capabilities.
Second, the screen. We planned to use the same one as the Sprig. But we quickly realized it wasn't cheap enough, so we finally opted for an equivalent screen from a German seller.
Our main problem during this project was the cost of the podometer. Our first prototype was $30 per board. We planned to make 30 of them, and with $450, at that price, we could only make 15. :/
We cut costs by not ordering the Picos from JLCPCB (saved $6 via DigiKey!), using a different screen ($4.50 per screen), and soldering all the parts ourselves. I also grouped all the parts we needed assembled by the PCB maker on the same side, because double-sided assembly is SO EXPENSIVE!!!
We finally opted for an ADXL345 over an ADXL335 because it has I2C, is more power-efficient, and costs $2 less!
- Pico W
- ADXL345
- Some adafruits buttons
- BH-AAA-B5AA005 (battery holder)
- 1N5817
- JS202011SCQN (slide switch)
- Some 1uf capacitors
