IFD:PhysicalComp2011/Dianna Mertz

In-Depth: Smart Containers

Concept

Question: Is there enough flour and sugar at home to make a cake for your friend's birthday tomorrow? Or do you need to stop at the store on your way home?

Solution: Smart containers for your pantry — this way all you need to do is check your mobile device and you can see exactly how much flour and sugar you have at home. No need for unnecessary purchases or stops on the way home.

Prototype

Equipment

Arduino
Sharp GP2D120XJ00F Analog Infrared Distance Sensor 4-30cm
Container
Computer
Mobile Device

Gallery

Short range (3 - 40 cm) infrared sensor fixed to container lid, container with flour, Arduino, computer, mobile device

Short-range (3 - 40 cm) Infrared Sensor and Arduino

Shot of Arduino and Processing running with on-screen visualizer

Shot of Arduino and Processing stopped and .tsv file opened to display the data produced

In-Depth mobile device screen shots (vertical)

In-Depth mobile device content levels visualizer (horizontal)

Videos

<videoflash type=vimeo>36023409</videoflash>
On-screen visualization of the infrared sensor monitoring the level of the container contents.
<videoflash type=vimeo>36032905</videoflash>
Demo of the mobile app prototype.

Web

In-Depth: Smart Containers web site -- optimized for mobile device

Code

Arduino

int sensePin = 1;   // infrared sensor to analog pin
int value;     // value coming from the sensor

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600); // start the serial port                          
}

void loop() {
  int value = analogRead(sensePin); // current value of the sensor
  byte scaledVal = map(value, 0, 600, 0, 255); // rescale to send as one byte     
  Serial.write(scaledVal);  //print the distance
  delay(100);  // arbitrary wait time
}

Processing

Serial myPort; // variable for the serial
import processing.serial.*; // reads information coming in through the server via Arduino
int incomingVal; // incoming number value
int r; // example
int b; // example
int q; // example
int o; // example 
 
void setup(){
  size(255,255); // visualization window size
  myPort = new Serial(this,"/dev/tty.usbmodem411",9600); // my Arduino port
}
 
void draw(){
  background(0); // background black for visualization
  while(myPort.available() > 0){
    incomingVal = myPort.read(); // while new data coming in from Arduino, store in variable
  }
  float reVal =map(incomingVal, 51, 255, 0, 255); // rescale the incoming value to the depth of the container
  fill(reVal); // fill the visualization with the rescaled incoming value
  rect(0,height - reVal,width,height); // draws rectangle of the incoming value
  println("Flour:" +(reVal)+ " Sugar:" + r+ " Oats:" + b+ " Pasta:" + q+ " Millet" + o ); // incoming value to be seen in console
  PrintWriter output = createWriter("data/data.tsv"); // send info to external file
  output.println("Flour:" +(reVal)+ " Sugar:" + r+ " Oats:" + b+ " Pasta:" + q+ " Millet:" + o ); // directs which information to be written to new file
  output.flush(); // write the info
}

PHP

(Gets the data from an automatically uploaded file from desktop)

 <?php 
$file_handle = fopen("data.tsv", "r");
while (!feof($file_handle)) {
   $line = fgets($file_handle);
   echo $line;
}
fclose($file_handle);
?>

Final Product Design

(Forthcoming)

References

The Internet of Things Infographic
Reference for Sharp GP2D120XJ00F Analog Distance Sensor 4-30cm
Arduino – Using a Sharp IR Sensor for Distance Calculation
Frederic Gmeiner's Potentiometer Code
The Right Way to Read Files with PHP
Sencha Touch Charts
iPhone 4 PSD template