Sensor Watch pares down connectivity to add functionality
Crowd Supply has added an Arm Cortex M0+ to the classic Casio wristwatch to produce the Sensor Watch. According to Crowd Supply, it forsakes power-hungry features like Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth support and a huge screen, focusing instead on 1990s nostalgia-styling, practical applications and battery life.
The Sensor Watch accommodates a low power Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller and a modular sensor board inside the slim enclosure of a Casio F-91W wristwatch. It is also water resistant up to 30m and has an estimated battery life of one full year on a single 100mAH coin-cell battery. The design is open source.
The watch features the Microchip SAM L22 microcontroller and is part of the Microchip Get Launched electronics design program. The SAM L22 MCU features 256kbytes of flash and 32kbytes of RAM, running at up to 32MHz.
The retro Sensor Watch, was developed by Oddly Specific Objects and launched with support from hardware development platform, Crowd Supply. It features several ready-to-use watch faces from the Movement community firmware, including a world clock, a temperature log and a time-based one-time password (TOTP) generator for two-factor authentication.
A built-in USB Micro B connector makes it easy to modify or update the watch’s firmware, and a nine-pin flex-PCB connector allows the wearer to expand its functionality by integrating a broad range of sensors, including an accelerometer for activity tracking, a phototransistor for light metering or a microphone for tracking noise exposure.
The Sensor Watch repository includes open source designs for several boards, and that resource will only grow as the community continues to dream up new applications for the platform, promises Crowd Supply.
Crowd Supply is believed to be the only product development platform offering engineers and companies a full suite of services to launch innovative products, including marketing, fulfillment, crowdfunding and ongoing sales through distributors.
The creator-focused platform connects backers with exciting projects that address a market need, allowing developers to quickly validate their ideas and transform interest from early adopters into manufactured products.
