Hack the Brush – Technical Info

Information on Oral-B Connected Toothbrush API and SDKs

WHAT IS A CONNECTED TOOTHBRUSH?

Oral-B is the worldwide leader in the brushing market. Part of the Procter & Gamble company, the brand includes manual and electric toothbrushes for children and adults, mouthwash and dental floss etc. The Oral-B PRO electric toothbrush with Bluetooth connects to a specially developed smartphone app providing users with real-time feedback on their brushing habits, helping to change oral care behaviour for the better.

Launched in mid-2014 the user base for the app is firmly established having been downloaded over 590,000 times (approximately iOS 358,000 times and Android 235,000 times). Providing a two-way communication between toothbrush and user, the brush is proven to increase overall brushing times – users are now brushing on average 2:24 minutes which is an increase from less that 60 seconds with a manual toothbrush. Importantly, the integration of the app eliminates doubt – users know when they are hitting their goals, and when they are not. Think of it as your daily oral care personal assistant, coach and motivator.

The Oral-B toothbrush models that currently connect to the app are: Oral-B PRO 6000, Oral-B PRO 6500 and Oral-B PRO 7000.

 

FEATURES OF THE OFFICIAL ORAL-B APP

The official Oral-B app already has a range of interesting features:

  • * Users can receive guidance selecting from five pre-programmed journeys to follow that fit their oral care goals.
  • * Journeys can be personalised by a dental professional.
  • * Progress can be reviewed over time from stored data.
  • * Users can unlock achievements based on brushing behaviour such as ‘most improved’ or ‘record brushing streak’.
  • * There is an integrated shop feature for oral care products

Watch this short video for more info:

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THE ORAL-B CONNECTED TOOTHBRUSH WEB API AND SDKs

Developers can access the API and SDKs and register new apps via the Developer Portal: https://developer.oralb.com/

In addition to the official app, there is still great potential to unlock in and around these connected devices and so Oral-B are launching a cloud-based API and SDKs to help facilitate new app developments and service plugins.

The SDK provides developers with libraries and documentation so that they may connect to the Oral-B PRO series toothbrush and access the user’s historical brush data (after the user grants access*). 

*Please note: If you are building an app which requires that you regularly record the user’s sessions the user would expect that you allow him to connect your app to the Cloud. Otherwise the sessions recorded while using your app might not be synced to the user’s Cloud account. 

WHAT DOES THE SDK ENABLE REGISTERED DEVELOPERS TO DO?

Discover – Bluetooth enabled Oral-B toothbrushes (PRO Series 6000 and higher) via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

Connect – to Oral-B toothbrushes via the cloud web service over HTTPS

Receive  – updates on state changes of the connected toothbrush, such as brushing time, device state, etc. and brush session data from a user’s Oral-B Cloud account

Synchronize – brush sessions with a connected toothbrush with the Oral-B Cloud service. Meaning that given a user grants access, you can pull all brush sessions of a user.

 

WHAT DATA IS COLLECTED FOR DEVELOPERS TO ACCESS?

The SDK will provide the following data while the user is brushing:

  • Device State – Device is running, not charging or idle at this stage. 
  • Pressure – Activates when the user applies too much pressure.
  • Brushing Time – Duration of the current brushing session.
  • Brushing Mode – Currently used brush mode.Also indicates mode change with reduced motor speed due to too much pressure.
  • Quadrant / Sector – Current quadrant / sector the user should brush (depends on quadrant configuration of the brush + brushing time)

 

And while the device is docked (not brushing):

  • Device State – State of the device, idle or Bluetooth connection on.
  • Battery Level – Battery level of the brush.
  • Brushing Mode – Currently used brush mode with dynamic update when user changes while brushing. 
  • Brush Time – Duration of the current brushing session.
  • Quadrant / Sector – Up to 30 seconds after last brushing event, last active quadrant / sector the user should brush (depends on quadrant configuration of the brush + brushing time)
  • Quad Times – Allows to read / change the quadrant / section durations.
  • Cached Data – Provides access to the cached sessions up to 20 or 30 seconds after last brushing event, depending on model of brush.

MORE INFO

Introduction to Hack the Brush

Challenges, Judging Criteria and Panel of Judges

Programme Schedule

Ideation Sessions