Library Noise Reduction Smart Desk Lamp
Design an interactive desk lamp for use in library environments designed to reduce noise and encourage learning. The lamp has a built-in sound sensor that detects sound decibels in the surrounding environment. When the sound exceeds a set threshold (e.g., loud conversations or noisy environments), the lamp will automatically turn off, prompting the user to lower the volume to create a quieter study environment. This design not only improves the library experience, but also saves energy and is environmentally friendly.
Couple sharing mood night light
The Couple Shared Mood Night Light is an interactive night light designed for couples in long distance relationships. The night light consists of two parts, which can be shaped like a patchwork heart, circle, or other designs that symbolize love. Each part of the lamp can be held by one of the couple and interconnected via the internet. When one partner clicks on the night light, the color changes with the mood and is synchronized to display on the other partner’s night light, making it a heartwarming way to convey the mood.
Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock
Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock can help people wake up more easily in the morning by simulating the sunrise effect and gradually waking up the user from deep sleep with the sound reminder of the alarm clock. This design is especially suitable for those who are sensitive to the sound of ordinary alarm clocks, easily woken up or have difficulty in waking up.
Functions and Features
Gradual brightness to simulate sunrise:
The light will start to gradually brighten 30 or 15 minutes before the set alarm time, from a soft warm yellow color to a bright white light, simulating the sunrise effect.
Hi Eva, thanks for your brainstorm! Here is some feedback/suggestions per idea:
1. Library Noise Reduction Smart Desk Lamp
This reminds me of my friend Randy’s lamp that turns off when he blinks: https://www.instructables.com/Energy-Saving-Light/
His project is intended to be funny and annoying– is that your intention? Because a desk lamp that turns off when others make noise sounds pretty annoying to me! I suppose if the room audio level affected the entire room lighting, that might change the dynamic of the interaction. But as a desk lamp, it punishes the person closest to it. If the microphone is also localized, I suppose it also enforces that the user must be quiet to see their own work, which they are probably not prioritizing if they are making noise. And the light turning on and off may be distracting to people nearby, moreso than the noise alone. Regardless of the user experience, this is a very feasible project that you could make using a microphone wired to your arduino’s analog input. Use an if statement to evaluate the anlog reading (same as you would with a potentiometer), which will be proportional to volume, and change the lighting depending on the value.
Here’s a suitable microphone: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1063
2. Couple sharing mood night light
Cute idea, here are a few projects I’ve worked on that are useful references for bidirectional telepresence:
https://beckystern.com/2017/02/02/internet-valentine-w-esp8266/
https://beckystern.com/2023/11/27/hug-sensing-iot-parihug-toy-w-xyla-foxlin/
but you would need to further develop your intended user experience to help guide your parts shopping. Contact me on slack or email with an elaboration on this concept for more specific parts suggestions.
3. Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock
This very much exists already, so how would yours be different and/or better? For example: https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-sunrise-alarm-clocks/
I’m not saying you shouldn’t pick this idea, just that it is a pretty saturated space and you’d have to navigate that.
Hi Eva! I like your library lamp idea and I agree with Becky’s point that it transforms into a punishing device to the closest person in a noisy environment. One way to circumvent could be programming a manual timer/ delayer in Arduino that only turns off the light if the noise persists beyond a certain point. I’m also curious how you would play with the design of the lamp to signal this feature (bc the green design has been there for 200 years).