As a baby grows inside the womb, pregnant mothers are constantly and acutely aware of its presence mostly through its movements. With the Kickbee, I intend to extend a baby's minute contact with the world beyond the mother's body by sensing these movements and transmitting them via digital networks.

Audience
Myself, friends, and family who would want to know when the baby moves. It has a secondary use for all expectant mothers, as keeping track of fetal movements is important for monitoring the health of the developing baby.

User Scenario
A pregnant mother finds a quiet place to sit. She turns on the Kickbee and wraps it around her belly. When it's in position, she presses a button to start the Kickbee, and the baby's movements are tracked wirelessly via an application on her computer. When the baby kicks, the event is submitted to Twitter.

The father may choose to be notified of posts to the Kickbee's Twitter feed via SMS, enabling him to be remotely aware of the baby's activity.

Implementation
The Kickbee is a wearable device made of a stretchable band and embedded electronics and sensors. Piezo sensors are attached directly to the band, and transmit voltages when movement underneath is detected. An Arduino Mini transmits the signals to an accompanying Java application wirelessly via Bluetooth.

The Java application receives the sensor values and analyzes them. When a kick event is detected, a Twitter message is posted via the Twitter API.