food

Nuclear Taco Hat Predicts How Unpleasant the Morning After Spicy Foods Will Be

You know it's coming, but this sensor hat developed by altLab for their hack project at Codebits 2011 will give you a better idea of just how unpleasant your morning will be the day after eating spicy foods.

Inspired by the nuclear taco eating challenge at the previous year's Codebits, as well as those beer helmets, the team at altLab wondered if a piece of headgear could be devised that would measure just how hot spicy foods are. What they came up with was the Nuclear Taco Sensor Hat, complete with a bottle of milk and yogurt on each side to help quench the fire.

Those bottles are also used to determine just how spicy a nuclear taco really is. Fluid intake sensors measure how much milk and yogurt are being consumed, while humidity and temperature sensors provide measurements of other physical reactions to the heat like sweating. An Arduino ties everything together, collating the data into a measurement on a chart that ranges from "no sweat" to "melt down." A webcam records the wearer's reactions the whole time, while a set of red LEDs shining on their face glow brighter the more uncomfortable they get. All-in-all you end up with a device that can accurately predict your not-too-distant unpleasant future for a mere $80. [altLab via Hack a Day]