Week 6 – Cube

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This week, Sim and I start to finish the fabrication and circuit. Both of us quietly liked the texture of the wood so we decide to use plywood to make a big box. Since constricted to the size of the plywood we can find, we changed it to make an imperfect cube with a longer height instead of a 14 by 14 by 14 perfect cube. 
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There are several stands inside the box for the tunnel of the kaleidoscope. The plate base which can rotate is placed in the center of the box.

 

After we make sure the right positions for each part, the circuit is the next work. We have to say the wires are super messy but fortunately, some of them could be blocked by the tunnel. And then we spray the inside to be dark blue.

Since the height of the box is relatively deep, it seems like FOUR hands are not enough to install the components 😂 But we did it! 

 

 
The base plate rotates when I blow on the sensor.

Code: here.

 

 

Week 5 – Guard4Eye

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Basically, I idea is super simple, just a device to monitor the distance between the user’s head and the screen. When the user crosses the border, the warning signal will light on. The device is called ‘Guard4Eye’, hopefully, it could correct my improper posture.

This week there are not many changes on the dashboard. I just modified the code of the warning part in Arduino, from the period in seconds to the times of crossing the border. You can find all of the code HERE

Since the device should be able to mount/clamp on any screen, the device should be light and the clamp should be compatible. So I will power the device with a power supply rather than install the battery inside of the device, and I found the screw-on clamping knob to make a clamp that could be adjusted and installed on any kind of screen.

For the fabrication, the sketch showed as below.1

 

 

Week 5 – Cube 3

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Sim and I try to make sure all the technical issues this week, and things go well. But we make a little change to the components we will adopt. 

Firstly, great thanks for Yeseul lending the wind sensor to us, super nice to detect data. And we try to use the air pumps but it’s super noisy! We decide to replace it with the 360 servos. The reason to use a servo is that we want to make a huge kaleidoscope in the cube, when people blow on the wind sensor the base plate will rotate by the servo. So the behavior is like playing with a hand-held kaleidoscope, which changes through rotation. 

Sketch:
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We have discussed the fabrication parts and tried to collect all these materials in days and start to make the cube as soon as possible. 

 

 

 

Week 5 – Fastening

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Since my theme is the organizer I am considering finding material to make something similar to a basket. I noticed some home decorations are made of yarn and wood, which is super natural and pretty. I decided to try something on the yarn and wood. 

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For the connection between the yarn and wood, I found the screw eyes of the 0 # model. The raw materials are shown below, including solid wood, 4mm yarn, and screw eyes. And finding a piece of wood to learn how to knit the yarn and ensure the feasibility of the connection between the yarn and wood. For knitting, there are lots of tutorials you can find online. 
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Sketch:

I saw the solid wood into 6 pieces of the same size. And dig a hole to install the screw eyes and the side of the wood which needs to connect to the yarn.

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The hardest thing is to make sure where to install the screw eyes and how to knit the yarn to make sure the connection. The FOUR bottom pieces are important, and the “wall” of the basket is easier. Knitting takes more time than I thought, almost spending my 5 hours to finish the piece. I can barely feel my hands after I knit. 😂

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Final Output:

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Week 4 – Environmental Device

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Through last week’s brainstorming in class, I decided to switch to VL53L0X which detects the longer distance of up to 2 meters. I decide to use it to monitor the distance between the user’s head to the monitor. I think it could be a helpful device for me since I have had serious cervical spondylosis for a long time. 

I set the threshold value of 40 cm, and if my head is close to the laptop’s screen within 40cm the white led will light on to give the warning. And I modified my dashboard consistent with my monitoring scenario. And added a blue led for the status of the wifi connection, and a button and yellow led for the broker’s connection.

I made an enclosure for it as my assignment for fabrication class, it’s not the ideal piece. I supposed it should be at the same height as my head and be put after the laptop.

 

Questions:

The device has to monitor data during spring break, where and how to store the data? Each time I re-plug the device, the data will be renewed and history data not shown anymore.