Now and again an interesting project appears that is based on the concept of measuring the vital signs of the user, and one example has been brought to our attention - a pulse oximeter and heart rate monitor by Arduino forum member die_Diode.
It uses two Arduino-compatibles in this neat device which uses some clever analogue circuitry to monitor the level of oxygen saturation and also the heart rate of the user. The finished project looks great and according to the creator is quite accurate when compared to a commercially-available machine.
Please note that although making such a device is an excellent educational project, you should rely on the advice of medical professionals and also call for help if your heart rate or other conditions take a turn for the worse. However for more information about the device, visit the Arduino forum. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you're wanting to make your own Arduino-compatible project such as the pulse oximeter above, you'll need an ATmega328P MCU with Arduino Uno bootloader:
This is the same Atmel AVR ATmega328P microcontroller used in the official Arduino Uno, as well as our Eleven, EtherTen, USBDroid, and other boards. Perfect for building your own Arduino-compatible project directly on a breadboard or on a custom PCB, or for replacing the MCU in an existing board. Comes with the Arduino Uno bootloader pre-installed. Better still, it even has a special label stuck on top with details of the pinout, so you don't even need to look up the datasheet when connecting it up in your project! For more information and to order, click here!
