Midterm Project

The information related to the in-class presentation was/will be given in class itself. The in-class presentation is available at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1f2q-bnjgmTGTGDaIORXxPnVoGM0FWm_QAYhCOtABfzI/ for reference purposes (you will need to sign in with your NYU credentials).

The product is called "eLSAR" which stands for "thE Light Sensitive AlaRm." It is a light sensitive alarm. The interaction we are mediating is between human and light, and waking up. The device senses the amount of ambient light and wakes up the human depending on the device's configuration. Input is the ambient light in the room, the on-off switch on the device, and the configuration knob on the device. Output is either no sound, or sound.

I worked with Giorgio Pizzorni on this project.

Plan for where the pieces should go (outside the casing)

Plain Arduino in casing

Potentiometer (10k ohm) soldered with wires

Speaker (8 ohm 0.25W) soldered with wires

Photoresistor soldered with wires

Switch soldered with wires

Completed upper casing with parts put in their places

Complete circuitry

Completed product (back left open to cause less headaches)

Testing the potentiometer

Testing the speaker

Testing the photoresistor

Testing the switch

Demo of the product:

Giorgio was, in fact, not very happy

Timeline of our project:
Wednesday (March 23): Finalized product idea
Thursday: Went to Leslie eLab for 3D printer/laser cutter training; our idea for 3D printing the casing was shot down (too large, would take too long), idea instead to laser cut wood/other material
Friday: Came up with list of components/materials to buy. Attempted to book laser cutter, system did not let us book over the weekend, earliest was Monday 10 AM, laser cutter idea scrapped.
Saturday: Purchased components/materials. Built casing (foam board rather than wood) and circuitry.
Sunday: Tested product. Wrote documentation.

Regarding our process and the various phases:
Concept/parts/planning: decided to build an alarm clock, thought of various parts to buy with Amos's help, and purchased them at Tinkersphere.
User observation/implement concept revisions/technical development iteration until complete: our various iterations are documented above where we test out each individual component and our final product. No obvious bugs/glitches/errors were found on first revision, so we stuck with it. One functionality we decided to change was rather than having a snooze/setup switch, instead have an on/off switch.
Demonstration of functioning project: documented above.

Presentation related information:
Located in the presentation above (link at top of post).