After some previous testings I did finish the final Version of How was you day, darling? -- or shorter “hwydd”:
It is a small object (actually half a ping pong ball), interacting with its owner and environment (and being pretty boring without interaction). The object permanently aggregates light samples (i.e. it measures the every second and stores the average every some seconds). If you take it into your hand it notices the raise in temperature and tells you how it experienced the day (i.e. playing back the light levels of the day in time lapse). It is much more complicated to describe than just to watch the video (after the break).
(Still the old version -- youtube is still converting the new video -- will get updated as soon as possible.)
How was your day, darling? is an attempt to create an electronic object which completely hides its electronic nature. It acts as part of the environment a user can interact with. The aim was to create a (agreed in a very limited way) emotional relation between the object and the user. Therefore the interaction is done using implicit methods instead of exposed elements like buttons or so).
Basically the micro controller measures the light level 255 times during 14 hours (ends up in about one check every 3 seconds) and stores it in its EEPROM. At the same tame the temperature is checked. If it gets significantly warmer the micro controller assumes that the device is on a hand and plays back the recorded values of the last 14 hours with its white LED in approximately 30 second (The second LED is just there because there was still a pin left and acts as a second method of output – e.g. if a measurement is performed).
Technically the whole project is very simple. It is an attiny micro controller, an light sensor and a white and a colored LEDs. It is completely realized in SMT (because it is cheaper and you get more components per ping pong ball -- and I think it looks better):
It is more or less the same as the first prototype, anybody interested in parts or schematics can have a look over there.
It sill got nearly all of the problems as the prototype -- but I got bored and want to tinker with something else. Perhaps I will come back later and implement an double voltage high brightness version.
How was your day, darling?
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Marcus,
great device and very cool PCB layout. Kudos!
Cheers,
Alex
255 samples across 14 hours would be one every ~3.3 minutes, not once every 3 seconds, but still, it’s a neat idea.
I do like the curved tracks in the PCB layout — what software did you use for that? A PCB package, or simply an image editing tool? I think the “half a ping-pong ball” is a cracking idea, just enough room to get an AVR and a coin cell, and the rest is up to you! I can imagine some Dorkbot contests based on this: what’s the strangest thing you can build inside half a ping-pong ball?