MAY 6, 2009 | Kickbee is a part of a larger project entitledTheHoneycomb, which focuses on connecting parents who are physicallyseparated. The project was completed for my NYU Graduate Thesis attheInteractive Telecommunications Program (ITP). Please check out theentire project athttp://portfolio.menscher.com/itp/honeycomb

As a baby grows inside the womb, pregnant mothers are constantly and acutelyaware of its presence mostly through its movements. With the Kickbee, I intendto extend a baby's minute contact with the world beyond the mother's body bysensing these movements and transmitting them to digital networks.There's something special about pregnant women's bellies that make so manywant to touch them. The presence of a child inside the womb is mysteriousbecause we only have visual clues to its presence. Yet we know that if we pressour hand and wait patiently, we may be greeted with a physical manifestation of its existence by feeling the baby's subtle (and not so subtle) movements inside.As an expectant father, I am once-removed from the physical knowledge mywife has of our baby and its development. With the Kickbee, I wanted to createa device that would give me a chance to be aware of our baby's movements. Itcan also aid in tracking the frequency of fetal movements, which is an importantway to monitor the health of the developing child.The Kickbee is a wearable device whose base is a stretchable spandex band.Piezo sensors are attached directly to the band, and transmit small butdetectable voltages when triggered by movement underneath. An Arduino Minimicrocontroller filters and analyzes the movement and transmits the signals toan accompanying Java application wirelessly via Bluetooth. (a SparkFunBlueSMIRF v2 module that communicates serially with a Macbook Pro.) Theband and electronics are covered in a soft fleece cover for comfort. An updatedversion presented at theITP Winter Show 2008uses XBee radios for betterstability and to prevent interference from the hundreds of bluetooth cell phonesin the vicinity.The Java application receives the sensor values and analyzes them. When a kickevent is detected, a Twitter message is posted via the Twitter API. I chose touse Twitter because it is easy to initiate an SMS message to any mobile phonewhen a kick is detected. It also acts as a data log that can be accessedprogrammatically for visualization or archiving.12/13/2008 - Kickbee has been getting a lot of internet attention, and I'veresponded to some comments I've been reading on my blog.12/20/2008 - After a week of press and attention, I've made some additionalcomments and observations on my blog.

Kickbee Press:

April 27, 2009 - "New Device Twitters Baby Kicks" - Reuters TVApril 16, 2009 - ABC's Good Morning America piece on "Tweeting DuringSurgery"April 14, 2008 Edition of the New York Times - Putting Twitter’s World to UsePBS Frontline: Digital Nationwebsite -"Kickbee": texting from the belly(YouTube link to video)Twitter CEO Evan Williams references Kickbee in his TED 2009 talkNYC WPIX News Video (also aired on CNN) - Kickbee: Fetal Kick DetectorNY Daily News - "Twittering from the womb: How soon is too soon to 'tweet'?"Daily Mail UK - "'I kicked mummy at 11.38': Pregnancy belt allows unbornbabies to open Facebook 'chat-womb'"The Telegraph UK - "Babies in the womb to record kicks on Facebook"The Sun - "Baby's message from the womb"BoingBoing - "Youngest Twitterer Evar"MAKE blog - "Kickbee: Twitter from the Womb"Gizmodo - "Kickbee: Now the world can know what your fetus is up to"Engadget - "@kickbee OMG, this Twitter / baby-tracking hack is so great. Keepon kicking mommy!"Hakaday.com - baby twitters via kicksGeek.com - "Device allows babies to Twitter from the womb"designboom - "Twitter Baby"Talk2MyShirt.com - "Interactive maternity clothing - Kickbee"portfolio.menscher.comCorey Menscher's Project PortfolioHomeITP ProjectsHoneycombKickbeeGeoGeniusThe Asterisk File Transfer ProtocolThe Peggy Lite-BriteHeadJackITPediaThe Naked PixelInfinity Mirrored Room - LEDs ForeverCorey Menschercorey[[at]]menscher.com©2008Built withIndexhibit