Week 8

Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! This week was all about getting hands-on—literally. After weeks of testing on breadboards and visualizing data on a screen, I finally began the transition from prototype to real-world-ready device.

The first big hurdle was migrating everything off the plastic breadboard. I had initially soldered header pins to the sensors and modules so they could plug into the plastic board easily—but when it came time to transfer the circuit to a metal perfboard, those headers became a problem. I had to cut off all the header pins, carefully desolder the leftover stubs, and then resolder each component directly onto the metal board. It took a lot of patience (and a little panic), but after a few failed attempts and soldering iron-induced frustration, I finally got the entire system—Arduino Nano, odor/VOC/ammonia sensors, LED, and SD card module—cleanly mounted and working.

With the hardware now on a stable perfboard, I also finalized the dimensions for the 3D-printed enclosure, which means I can begin prototyping the wearable case.

Meanwhile, I have been processing the data collected from the different scents and visualizing them to see the differences in composition. Soon, I will be collecting more data: human data! I am planning to start testing the device on different age groups, so stay tuned!