HOME SOFTWARE VIDEOS DEVELOPMENT SITE
Welcome to the development page for the CarbCounter+
This is an entry in the Microchip myPIC32 Competition.
If you would like to see it completed please register and vote for it at the above link.
Note: Due to the complexity of the registration process, detailed instructions on how to register and vote are in the following document:
HowToRegisterAndVote.pdf (~510K)
(Note: This may have changed since it was written)

Also How to Retrieve a temporary password: HowToGetPassword.pdf(~110K)

ABSTRACT
The CarbCounter+ is a Food Scale combined with a PDA. It is an easy to use compact design to help people with Diabetes manage, log and calculate their Carbohydrate information. This allows for more accurate insulin dosages and control, thus reducing the possibility of complications later in life.

Features
  • Food Scale
  • Extensive Carb Database
  • Food “search” option
  • Customizable
  • Log Book
  • Does the Math for you
  • No More Guessing the Carbs
  • Color Touch Screen
  • Designed with kids in mind Great for parents of toddlers, school kids, people on the go or any one who wants to be able to easily and accurately calculate carb content of their food.

    Other Possible Uses
    With slight hardware of software modification the Carb Counter Plus could possibly be used for the following.....
  • General Diets by adding full nutritional database – calories, fats etc
  • Scientific use for weighing and logging of data – especially in the field.
  • Bakery's and Restaurants to calculate the nutritional value of food for labelling and customer requests.

    Project Documents and Source
    Will place copies of the documents and source code here in the future.

    Hardware Progress
  • Schematic and PCB design Complete
  • PCB's and Components ordered
  • LCD and SD card Hardware tested
  • Scale Load cell tested
  • Components arrived
  • PCB arrived
  • Solder and Hot Air rework station arrived... but no soldering Iron!!!
  • Battery Arrived
  • Assembled as much as I could without needing a soldering Iron, see prototype photo.
  • fried the PCB cause I used a Propane solder iron.... will assemble a new board when my new fine tip iron arrives (Due later this week)
  • Please use the "Feature input" blog to send feature requests for the software, e.g. customizable backgrounds, NZ/AUS, USA, UK database selection, Insulin sensitivity by time, etc etc

    BLOGS
  • Blog for Software Progress
  • Blog For Project Progress
  • Blog For Feature Requests
  • Blog for detailed Description (Original Abstract plus more detail)

    Donation of CarbCounter+ Units
    Once the CarbCounter+ is ready for testing a number of units will be donated to the Endochrinology team at the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) Hospital in Christchurch New Zealand for beta testing and evaluation. This is where my son was first treated, the Endocrinology team trained us how to deal with Type 1 diabetes, how to count carbs and where I first came up with the idea for the CarbCounter+.
    Also our Endocrinologist office in Colorado USA has shown interest in a unit for beta testing and evaluation.


    Marketing Materials
    Since the competition is now has a majority score based on votes (Like American Idol), any additional votes will help.
    Following are some documents that may be useful.

    PleaseVoteCards.pdf (~50K) - Buisness card size handout's

    Poster_V1.pdf (~50K) - Poster advertising the CarbCounter+



    Special Thanks
    Thanks to my wife and son for their support, and not complaining to much about the late nights.
    Thanks to our Endocrinologist and her team at CDHB in New Zealand for helping us through the first steps, teaching us what we needed to know, and the continued support.
    Thanks to those who have shown their support by voting for this project.


    If you like it, please vote... and if you really like it please get your friends to vote as well.

    Thanks,

      Mike.


    CONTACT INFORMATION
    Send email to info@carbcounterplus.com