Products > Crowd Funded Projects

Intrest Survey: E-Ink Name Tag

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Electro707:
For full disclosure, this is a self-promotion for something that I want to eventually put up for crowd-funding. Also feel free to let me know if this isn't the right forum topic for it.

I want to get an idea of what you think about this crowd-funded project idea, and to gauge some rough interest. It's a name tag with an E-ink display that is programmable over USB (Type C, none of this MicroB garbage). Currently the programming software (written in Python) is in rough shape, I do plan on polishing it up eventually.

This is what it looks like right now assembled with a 3D printed enclosure. I actually used this during a conference/event, with with only current fault being the case falling apart from the front (friction fit).


Whether I will crowd-fund this or not, it's an open source and open hardware project if you want to have a peak at the source:
https://github.com/Electro707/eink_name_tag

PlainName:
Nice, but I think it lacks a USP. It doesn't really gain anything over a bit of Dymo tape stuck on plastic but adds expense, complexity and the potential for failures. Let me expand on that...

Suppose you go to many conferences, so you might have many name badges. First, they're all going to be the same name (yours). Second, if they are different (perhaps to have a custom conference thing) it would be tricky for this to cover all of them. So run off single tape, stick it an out-of-date credit card and you're done.

Alternatively, perhaps its use might be for organisers who will need to generate badges for many attendees. Again, the names aren't going to change for each person, and running off a hundred or so Dymo labels is easy peasy. Cheap, doesn't matter if the attendees walk off with them or chuck them in the bin.

Where this kind of thing would score is if there needs to be some change during its use. A use case for this doesn't immediately spring to mind (since any such case would be unusable due to existing fixed name badges, so examples don't exist), but we could make one up. Suppose there is limited room and you wish to restrict the numbers of people at any one time, and have them exit when their time is up (so others can go in). You have that number of these badges, and they could beep at the wearer when their time is up, and even show the name of the next wearer (so you don't have to check your list). No badge, no entry.

So, I think to be desirable this would have to be active in some way that a plain, cheap and simple printed one isn't.

Kalvin:
Here are my 2c:

- USB charging is ok, although a coin battery might be sufficient as the e-ink displays do not consume energy when the display is not changing.

- Programming the badge using USB is kind of old-school, why not use BLE instead?

- Create a mobile application which can be paired with the tag, and the user can enter the information over the BLE connection using the application.

- Provide some predefined templates, and allow user to upload their own background graphics in the mobile application.

- Finalize the mechanical design.

I know that BLE and the mobile application stuff may be difficult, but you might find a partner who can do those things with you. Same goes to mechanical design.

Electro707:

--- Quote ---Nice, but I think it lacks a USP. It doesn't really gain anything over a bit of Dymo tape stuck on plastic but adds expense, complexity and the potential for failures.
--- End quote ---
For this particular name tag, I was planning on targeting it more for the hobbyist/hacker space where one might find it enjoyable to have an E-Ink name tag. More of an open source project rather than a consumer product. I do agree it's going to be quite niche and doesn't really have a USP for most, but I am hoping at least 100 or so people to justify a production run (thus this post and the hopefully future crowd-funding).

--- Quote ---So, I think to be desirable this would have to be active in some way that a plain, cheap and simple printed one isn't.
--- End quote ---
Currently I have it change the display using the two buttons on the side (with several "frames" store in an EEPROM), so in that sense it's "active" but doesn't do much.

Electro707:

--- Quote ---USB charging is ok, although a coin battery might be sufficient as the e-ink displays do not consume energy when the display is not changing
--- End quote ---
Funny you mention that, as the first revision of the board actually used a coin cell. What I found out was that the coin cell's output current couldn't support updating the display. I also couldn't find any easy-to-remove mechanism for the coin cell battery holder unless I were to design the enclosure with a coin cell hole with side-terminals.
I do agree that the self-discharge of lithium cells might be too much (this thing draws <5uA during sleep mode), so I might switch up the battery to one which has a low self-discharge rate but can support the "high" E-ink update current

--- Quote ---Programming the badge using USB is kind of old-school, why not use BLE instead?
--- End quote ---
Mainly due, at the time of inception, I used an STM32L0 for it's low current draw during sleep mode and never bothered adding BLE (whether a separate chipset or something to replace the STM). I can definatly see the usage of BLE, and on the next rev might switch to an ESP32 (the current draw is also small in hibernate mode, ~5uA), which might also justify keeping a lithium cell due to the "high" power consumption during BLE RX/TX.

I do agree the that the enclosure needs some work. The app might be difficult as app development isn't my specialty.

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