Arduino Air Aware

Interactive Mask
UI/UX Research & Product Design & Interactive Design

01/

THE
PROBLEM

Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.

Growing up in Taiwan, sometimes our air quality suffers from Sandstorms occurring all over China. Wearing masks to protect ourselves from poor air quality is very common with these occurrences. When people are sick, we wear masks to protect ourselves and the public. The prompt in our class was Air Pollution, so our team decided to create an aesthetic and functional mask to encourage people to wear one when they have to.

As air pollution becomes more and more of an issue in many countries, people have begun to wear masks for the sake of their health; however, there are still a lot of people who do not wear masks for many reasons. An important reason is that conventional masks can't inform people of the quality of the air.

02/

THE
SOLUTION

Arduino Air Aware (AA) is a smart mask that challenges the simplicity and function of normal smog masks seen today. AA can detect trace amounts of volatile organic compounds or VOCs and many gases to 1) protect the user and to 2) warn them and those around of toxic VOCs and many gases. My team combined Adafruit’s CCS811 gas sensor with a Circuit Playground Express and seven optical fibers to create the mask. This setup will monitor temperature, carbon dioxide, and total volatile organic compounds. The sensor is easy to work with using its I2C interface and pre-calibrated ranges. During the process, our goal is to make the wearer not only physically but also emotionally more comfortable.

03/

THE
RESEARCH

COMPETITORS
In the market, there are many masks with an aluminum adjustable nose clip, hanging ear design, and an adjustable hook and loop strap. Based on the existing designs, we collaborate on the visualization display on the mask.

VISUAL LANGUAGE + MOOD BOARDS
- Aesthetic and conceptual side of mask design
- Mysterious and elegant fashion adornments
- Inviting and accessible tone

04/

IDEATION

The project started as an exploration of wearable devices on the head and face. Why do we wear these objects? What is the functional purpose? Below are the sketches of the early development of the mask’s appearances. We came up with four sketches. Then, we narrowed down one concept for the appearance of a headphone structure that has a round component going into the ear.

We purchased the dusk mask from Amazon and tested different materials of 3D prints to create the housing for the Arduino and air sensor. AA is still in its prototype phase. We did many tests and trials of the Arduino housing and air sensor. One of the challenges is to display the colors. For this version, we used 3D printed housings made of PLA (Polylactic Acid). We connected the two housings, made of a more flexible 3D printed rubber composite.

05/

EXPERIMENTATION

3D printed housings and rubber composite

Experiment Adafruit’s CCS811 gas sensor with a Circuit Playground Express

Circuit Playground Express LED lights with fiber optics

Experiment Circuit Playground Express sound and LED output with 8 levels of CO2 amount

AA can detect trace amounts of volatile organic compounds or VOCs and many gases to 1) protect the user and 2) warn them and those around of toxic VOCs and many gases. When AA picks up abnormal particles/gases, the Arduino controller changes the fiber-optics colors.

06/

DEMONSTRATION

AA color demonstration
0-300 ppm
Constant rainbow colors

300-1000 ppm
Constant green and blue

1000 up ppm
Flashing rainbow colors

In the prototype stage, we experimented with the AA by using boiled water to generate CO2.

What are safe levels of CO2 in rooms?
• 250-350 ppm Normal background concentration in outdoor ambient air

• 350-1,000ppm Concentrations typical of occupied indoor spaces with good air exchange

• 1,000-2,000ppm Complaints of drowsiness and poor air.

ArduinoAirAware