18. Applications and Implications¶
This week we had to again sketch up and explain our final projects.
What will it do?¶
My final project will be a weather forecast display for the day, that integrates nicely into my children’s bedroom.
My wife usually works the morning shift at the hospital, so I am the one to get the kids ready for the day. When getting up and sorting out the little ones, I don’t want to be bothered to check the weather report for the day to select what they will wear that day, so I’d like to have a weather forecast display in the children’s bedroom (where we get ready) that actually also integrates nicely into a children’s bedroom environment. Many weather stations and forecast displays have been built (see research below), but most of them are not really suited thematically (either too modern or too steampunk) for the room.
Who’s done what beforehand?¶
A number of FabAcademy and How to Make (Almost) Anything projects have tackled the same or similar problems I try to solve. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of reference projects:
-
Cloudio (Wim Lanz, FabLab Barcelona, 2017):
- really dig the aesthetics, but not fitting for children’s bedroom
-
Steampunk Weather Station (Baptiste Lardais, La Machinerie, France, 2020):
- again, not really matching the aesthetics
-
BLE WEather Station (Vincent Dupuis, FabLabSU/PMCLab, Paris, France, 2016):
- mostly for measuring, display on phone
-
Outdoor Weather Station (Kai Vincent, Charlotte, NC, US, 2019):
- mostly about measurement, not display
-
Weather-Mimicking Plant Terrarium (Andrew Kriebel, HTMAA, 2015):
- not matching childrens’ bedroom ambiente
- nice idea and execution though, love it!
-
Weather Report (Art Installation) (Felipe Gomes, FabLab Barcelona, 2019):
- very nice, too artsy and big though for the use case
-
Smart Clock with Weather Display (Thomas Feminier, FabLab Woma, Paris, 2016):
- as before, nice execution, but “too adult” for my case
-
Weather Tracker Light (Kevin Jiang, HTMAA, 2016):
- nice outcome, very basic (in a good way)!
-
Weather Station (Jacem Beji, FabLab Kamp-Lintfort, Kamp-Lintfort, Germany, 2020):
- mostly about measurement, not display, little info
-
Superlocal Weather Station (Alberto Lopez, FabLab Barcelona, 2019):
- more about measurement and display
- not playful enough
What will you design?¶
Following sketch shows my list of requirements and two ideas of implementation for the forecast display:
I personally do like the setup as shown in idea A, where a disc behind a cutout window moves and displays the weather situation. I have noticed in the past though that for my little ones (coming up to be 2 and 4 years old, respectively) this way of displaying can still be a bit confusing and/or unintuitive. I thus decided to go with idea B, where the weather symbols are stationary and a (literal) hand points at them as forecast. The whole apparatus should be as large as a large wall clock and can be powered by cable. I will thus design:
- Weather symbols
- Indicator hand
- Actuation mechanism for the hand
- Electronics enclosure
- Electronics base board to integrate components
- Software/Firmware
What materials and components will be used?¶
I will use following materials and components for my project:
- Plywood for Weather symbols and indicator hand
- Plywood or acrylic for base board (tbd)
- PLA filament for 3D-printed parts (electronics enclosure)
- D1 Mini NodeMcu with ESP8266 for polling Weather API and controls
- A4988 Stepper Motor Driver or similar
- (Optional: Logic level converter)
- (Optional: NeoPixel addressable LEDs)
- NEMA 17 stepper motor
- (Alternative: Servo instead of stepper motor)
- FR1 PCB stock for base board integrating all components
- Stock components (wires, headers etc.)
Where will they come from?¶
- Plywood/Acrylic: FabLab.blue
- PLA: personal stock
- µC, motors, servos and other electronics: personal stock
- FR1 PCB material, generic stock components: FabLab.blue
How much will they cost?¶
Since many of my parts to be used will come from my or the lab’s scrap bin, I will guesstimate a price based on what a purchase would cost. The needed quantities are also liberally estimated:
| Material/Component | Quantity | Unit price | Total Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plywood | 0.5 m² | 46.04 €/m² | 23.02 € |
| PLA | 100 g | 15 €/kg | 1.50 € |
| D1 Mini NodeMcu with ESP8266 | 1 | 11.99 €/3 pcs. | ~ 4.00 € |
| A4988 Stepper Motor Driver | 1 | 9.99 €/5 pcs. | ~ 2.00 € |
| NEMA 17 Stepper Motor | 1 | 10.69 €/pc. | 10.69 € |
| FR1 PCB Stock | 1 (~ 7 x 10 cm) | 11.99 €/15 pcs. | ~ 0.80 € |
| Total | 42.01 € |
That is the base cost for the base idea without any bells and whistles. I also just checked Amazon for prices for stuff that I had in my scrap box anyways. Any of the above items can probably be found for way cheaper if time and/or convenience don’t matter. Also, buying in bulk vs. small quantities as always helps tremendously.
What parts and systems will be made?¶
I will design and make the forecast indicator pieces myself (weather icons, hand symbol). Electronics wise, the µC board with its WiFi capability comes as a module. That module, as well as the stepper driver module, will be embedded on a custom board for integration’s sake. Both boards will share a common power supply. Programming wise, the µC will be programmed to poll a weather API (there’s quite a few to choose from), select the proper data for the day and send commands to the stepper driver board to move the motor and the hand accordingly. If time allows integration of the temperature display, I will make a small daughter board for a row of addressable NeoPixel compatible LEDs that will light up accordingly to show the temperature expected for the day.
What processes will be used?¶
I will use laser cutting for producing the wood parts, PCB milling to produce my mother board (and daughter board, if time allows) and 3D-printing to fabricate an enclosure for my electronics. The coffee maker will be used to produce software :)
What questions need to be answered?¶
- How does the API integration work?
- What should the weather icons and hand look like?
- Do I want to use a transparent acrylic back plate or wooden?
- Paint or no paint?
- Do the kids like the idea?
- Do I need a homing/reference switch for the moving arm? (given no mm-accuracy will be needed here, this should be okay with just driving the motor against a blockade for a while)
- Will the stepper motor idea work to hold the arm? (Might need a helical gear to hold arm without power - I don’t want the stepper motor to be on all day - or use of a servo instead of a stepper motor)
How will it be evaluated?¶
- I will test the system by feeding it manually with fake API call results to test all the different states
- Then, the device will be used and tested in situ
Rechecking final project requirements¶
- Your project should incorporate 2D and 3D design
- additive and subtractive fabrication processes,
- electronics design and production,
- embedded microcontroller interfacing and programming,
- system integration and packaging
- Where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project