Week17. Applications and Implications¶
What will it do?¶
When you stare at the hour hand on a clock, it seems to move incredibly slowly, like time is inching along… really slowly. But if you take a glance at the second hand, doesn’t it feel like time is actually speeding by – and fast? I created this piece to encourage everyone to think about how we experience time. Depending on the angle we choose to look at it, time can affect us in different ways. I hope people can come to appreciate that time is incredibly valuable and it always slips away before we know it. We should treasure every moment we have and live life to the fullest.
When you are one meter away from him, the pointer represents the hour hand; when you are closer to 80cm, the pointer represents the minute hand; when you are closer to 60cm, the pointer represents the second hand; when you are closer, the pointer will rotate at the fastest speed.
Who has done what beforehand?¶
In fact, I did it once a few years ago, but when I did it, my engineer friends gave me a lot of support, so I didn’t participate in too much programming and circuit design, and the previous version was assembled with jumpers. , it does not involve the PCB production part. This time I hope to take the opportunity of the final project to reproduce and optimize a version of this clock, and go through the entire design process again by myself.
What will you design?¶
Design and construct a clock device that changes the time unit displayed (hour, minute, second, tenth of a second) based on the distance from the user to the device. Additionally, the clock incorporates an LED lighting feature where the flashing frequency of the lights accelerates in conjunction with the speed of the pointer movement.
What materials and components will be used?¶
I divided the required materials into the following two parts
A. Electronic Materials¶
| Qty | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32 S3 Sens | |||
| 1 | Steper moto | |||
| 1 | Steper moto driver | |||
| 1 | RTC | |||
| 1 | Ultrasonic distance sensor | |||
| 4 | Neo pixel - ws2812B |
B. Structural parts and housing¶
| Qty | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | backplane | |||
| 1 | Hand of the clock | |||
| 1 | Frame of the clock | |||
| 1 | Surface of the clock （Acrylic） |
Where will they come from?¶
A. Electronic Materials¶
| Qty | Description | Link | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32 S3 Sens | https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-ESP32S3-Sense-p-5639.html | ||
| 1 | Steper moto | https://www.taobao.com/list/item/583578061112.htm?spm=a21wu.10013406.taglist-content.5.447f2acccsEic1 | ||
| 1 | Steper moto driver | https://m.tb.cn/h.gWZvqWg?tk=nhyqWE94OCF | ||
| 1 | RTC | https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?ali_refid=a3_430620_1006:1685292553:N:DfuTbet/BgdJzfXQ/lLTFw==:cc14539ae7bcf64e07083ef63c05bdbb&ali_trackid=1_cc14539ae7bcf64e07083ef63c05bdbb&id=778395485538&spm=a21n57.1.item.1&sku_properties=1627207:445472433 | ||
| 1 | Ultrasonic distance sensor | https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?abbucket=6&id=777347838639&ns=1&priceTId=215042f717161008012131254e83a0&spm=a21n57.1.item.49.c1e0523ci6uarv | ||
| 4 | Neo pixel - ws2812B | https://m.tb.cn/h.gWj4WgQ?tk=nfpIWEjEj39 |
B. Structural parts and housing¶
| Qty | Description | Link | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | backplane | from lab‘s storehouse | ||
| 1 | Hand of the clock | from lab‘s storehouse | ||
| 1 | Frame of the clock | from lab‘s storehouse | ||
| 1 | Surface of the clock （Acrylic） | https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?abbucket=16&id=653857006602&ns=1&priceTId=2147807017161014651355636e0535&skuId=5423499352215&spm=a21n57.1.item.5.4e9e523cEk1eZd |
How much will they cost?¶
| Qty | Description | Price | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32 S3 Sens | 13.99 $ | https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-ESP32S3-Sense-p-5639.html | |
| 1 | Steper moto | 1.99 $ | https://www.taobao.com/list/item/583578061112.htm?spm=a21wu.10013406.taglist-content.5.447f2acccsEic1 | |
| 1 | Steper moto driver | 1 $ | https://m.tb.cn/h.gWZvqWg?tk=nhyqWE94OCF | |
| 1 | RTC | 7.06 $ | https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?ali_refid=a3_430620_1006:1685292553:N:DfuTbet/BgdJzfXQ/lLTFw==:cc14539ae7bcf64e07083ef63c05bdbb&ali_trackid=1_cc14539ae7bcf64e07083ef63c05bdbb&id=778395485538&spm=a21n57.1.item.1&sku_properties=1627207:445472433 | |
| 1 | Ultrasonic distance sensor | 3.18 $ | https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?abbucket=6&id=777347838639&ns=1&priceTId=215042f717161008012131254e83a0&spm=a21n57.1.item.49.c1e0523ci6uarv | |
| 4 | Neo pixel - ws2812B | 4 $ | https://m.tb.cn/h.gWj4WgQ?tk=nfpIWEjEj39 |
B. Structural parts and housing¶
| Qty | Description | Price | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | backplane | About 5 $ | from lab‘s storehouse | |
| 1 | Hand of the clock | About 1 $ | from lab‘s storehouse | |
| 1 | Frame of the clock | About 5 $ | from lab‘s storehouse | |
| 1 | Surface of the clock （Acrylic） | 6.46 $ | https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?abbucket=16&id=653857006602&ns=1&priceTId=2147807017161014651355636e0535&skuId=5423499352215&spm=a21n57.1.item.5.4e9e523cEk1eZd |
What parts and systems will be made?¶
My final project includes the following parts:
1/Structural parts for fixing the stepper motor (3D printing);
week05
2/Bottom wooden board, and side panels (laser cutting machine);
week03
3/Surface acrylic panel (laser cutting machine)
week03
4/PCB board & MCU. final page
What processes will be used?¶
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Concept design, which refers to designing the clock into a hand that changes the rotation speed according to the distance between people;
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Appearance design, which refers to the outer shell of the clock. Including the material selection from the back panel to the panel, using a fitting method to assemble the side panels, and using translucent acrylic on the surface to even out the light;
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Electronic design to provide support for the interaction of the project, here XIAO is used as the main Control, drive ultrasonic sensors, stepper motors, and light strips.
Coordinated Operation of the Entire System:¶
As users approach the clock, the electronic system’s ultrasonic sensor detects changes in distance and relays this data to the XIAO microcontroller. The XIAO microcontroller processes this data and calculates the required pointer rotation speed based on the proximity of the user, subsequently driving the stepper motor to adjust the speed, thus realizing the interactive effect envisioned in the conceptual design. What the user observes is a beautiful visual effect created by the uniformly glowing semi-transparent acrylic in conjunction with the changing speed of the internal pointer rotation, meticulously crafted as a result of the aesthetic design. Each subsystem plays its unique role yet is interdependent, collaborating to create a holistic clock system that is both functional and pleasing to the eye, with a high degree of interactivity.
What questions need to be answered?¶
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Are the functions of stepper motors suitable for making clocks?
-
Can the aiming sensor used to sense the distance between a person and the clock be replaced with another one? Will it have better results?
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Can it only be considered a clock if it can only display time using scales such as hours/minutes/seconds? Is it possible to use different speeds instead of hours/minutes/seconds?
How will it be evaluated?¶
The project is finally completed if it can run the following functions:
- The clock will always maintain the breathing light effect;
- Have a complete appearance design;
- The circuit board needs to be an integrated circuit board, and the demo built with jumpers cannot be used;
- When you are one meter away from him, the pointer represents the hour hand; when you are closer to 80cm, the pointer represents the minute hand; when you are closer to 60cm, the pointer represents the second hand.