Arduino UNO | 2022 Fall
Why I made this:
As someone who has been taking sleeping pills for five years, I always wished to develop good sleep habits to obtain healthier and more restful sleep. However, the silence of the night often makes me over-focused on my work and lose track of time. Staring at a bright screen for a long time also makes me sleepless, so I often cannot fall asleep even though it is very late. When I was learning Arduino, I thought about how to make a device that would not suddenly disturb the user like an alarm clock, but could also remind the user of the time to develop good sleep habits.
How I made this:
For good sleep quality, we should have a fixed bedtime and avoid using electronics at least half an hour before bed. Inspired by the Ambient Light project which triggers behavioral change by mimicking users’ sitting gestures with LED lights on the desk, I came up with the idea of using different colored lights to remind the users when they should prepare for bed which is far less disturbing than alarms. To remind me of preparing for bed smartly, I used a photoresistor to detect the light intensity so that only when it detects a bright light on my desk, for example, when I am playing a game, the system will start counting the time. After three hours, the yellow light will automatically be on to remind me that I should get ready for bed. If the photoresistor does not receive strong light after that, it will light up blue after half an hour. Or if I don't notice the yellow light or insist on playing the game, the red light will automatically be on to warn me.