Apron Alert: The apron that tweets about your meal
Modern technology has all but taken over our lives. Parents everywhere face the hard task of battling with their kid’s phones and computers for their attention. Here is a fun new way to make meal time more interactive; and more importantly, give you the means to talk to your kids in a language they understand best. The folks at Smart Design’s Interaction Lab have come up with the whimsical and quirky Apron Alert, which is basically an apron that tweets the status of lunch out to the world! Incredible, right! The Apron Alert project is a concept that uses wireless XBee radios attached to Lilypad Arduinos. These “smart” aprons can sense when you have put on the apron (assumedly to begin cooking the meal), and when you have taken it off. Accordingly, the apron then sends out automatic tweets or text messages, letting people know that the meal prep has begun, and then another when you take it off letting them know that the meal is ready.
The ingenious Apron Alert concept by Smart Design’s Interaction Lab was first thought of as a way of “improving the communal kitchen experience.” The apron is held together at the neck by a magnetic clasp. This clasp sends a message to the Arduino board whenever it is “snapped on” and “snapped off”.
