Badger2040 Mood Display

A visual communication tool designed to help neurodivergent children express their emotional state using the Pimoroni Badger2040 e-ink display. This assistive technology allows children to easily indicate and communicate their current emotional state through a combination of text and images.

Purpose

This device serves as an emotional communication aid, helping children who may find it challenging to verbally express their feelings. By providing a simple, visual way to display their current emotional state, it can:

• Facilitate communication between children and caregivers
• Help children self-advocate and express their needs
• Reduce anxiety around emotional expression
• Provide a non-verbal method of emotional communication
• Support emotional awareness and regulation

Features

• Easy-to-use button controls for cycling through different emotional states
• Clear visual display combining text and images
• Persistent state memory (maintains the selected emotion even when powered off)
• High contrast e-ink display that's easy to read and doesn't emit light
• Long battery life with power-efficient design
• Customizable emotions and images to match individual needs
• Optional shortcuts using the A, B and C buttons

Hardware Requirements

• Pimoroni Badger2040 E-ink Display

The Badger2040 comes with onboard storage, so no additional storage hardware is required.

Display Specifications

The Badger2040 uses an e-ink display with the following specifications:

• Resolution: 296 x 128 pixels
• Color Depth: 1-bit (black and white only)
• Available RAM: ~128KB for image processing

Image Requirements

For optimal display quality:

1. Images should be sized appropriately for the 296 x 128 pixel display
   • Recommended size: ~100x100 pixels for images with accompanying text
   • Full width possible if no text is needed (296 pixels)
2. Must be converted to black and white (no grayscale)
3. Saved in JPEG format for compatibility with the jpegdec library
4. High contrast for best visibility on the e-ink display
5. Images are positioned at coordinates (0,0) in the current implementation

Image Optimization Tips

• Use bold, simple designs that work well in black and white
• Test images on the device to ensure clarity
• Consider using icon-style graphics rather than detailed photographs
• Ensure sufficient contrast between elements
• Avoid fine details that might be lost in the binary conversion

Using Image Fonts

Glyph or Icon fonts can be used as long as you stay within the license restrictions of the icon or image font you are using. In this example we are using the Google Material icon fonts.

• Find the icons you want on https://fonts.google.com/icons
• Select an image size of 25 dpi generates a 100x100 png file.
  • An image of 32 dpi generates a 128x128 png file. That was too large.
• Set the font weight to 100 or 200. 100 is crisp
• Set the line color to black #0000000 for the highest contrast
• Convert the png to jpg with white backgrounds

Setup Instructions

1. Connect your Badger2040 to your computer via USB
2. Copy the main.py file to your Badger2040
3. Create a /moods directory on the Badger2040's onboard storage
4. Create a config.json file in the /moods directory with your emotion configurations
5. Add appropriate JPEG images to the /moods directory

Configuration

Create a config.json file in the /moods directory with your chosen emotions. There can be up to three sets of moods one for each of the keys across the bottom. The following example effectively sets up the B and C keys as shortcuts to thumbs up and down

{
  "moods" :
  [
    [
      ["Chilled","happy.jpg"],
      ["Sad","sad.jpg"],
      ["Bored","bored.jpg"],
      ["Annoyed","annoyed.jpg"],
      ["Angry","angry.jpg"],
      ["Embarassed","embarassed.jpg"],
      ["Suprised","surprised.jpg"],
      ["Very Happy","very_happy.jpg"]
    ],
    [
      ["Agree","thumb_up.jpg"]
    ],
    [
      ["Disagree","thumb_down.jpg"]
    ]
  ]
}

Each entry consists of:

• Text to display (keep it simple and clear)
• Filename of the associated image

Usage Guide

For Children:

• Press UP button to move to the next emotion
• Press DOWN button to go back to the previous emotion
• The screen will stay on for easy viewing
• If configured use the A, B and C buttons as shortcuts

For Caregivers:

• The device maintains its last selected state even when turned off
• The screen automatically refreshes to maintain clarity
• Device enters sleep mode to preserve battery life

Customization Tips

• Choose clear, recognizable images that represent each emotion
• Use consistent visual styles across images
• Consider using familiar symbols or characters
• Keep text descriptions simple and direct
• Adapt the emotion options based on individual needs

File Structure

/
├── main.py
├── state.txt         # Stores the current emotional state
└── moods/
    ├── config.json   # Emotion configuration file
    ├── happy.jpg     # Emotion images
    ├── sad.jpg
    └── overwhelmed.jpg

Contributing

Contributions to make this tool more effective for neurodivergent children are welcome. Some areas for development:

• Additional emotion sets for different age groups or needs
• Improved user interface designs
• Documentation translations
• Alternative image sets
• Accessibility improvements

Adapting for Different Needs

This tool can be customized for various situations:

• Different age groups
• Various communication needs
• Different emotional vocabularies
• Multiple languages
• Different symbol sets or communication systems