Prototyping (Alex+Nate)

Reminder: Our product is a nightstand with two power outlets for a lamp and a phone charger. The interaction scenario is when the room is dark, a user puts his or her phone on a charger and takes a book from the stand. The lamp turns on immediately, allowing to read the book, and the charger powers on in 15 minutes, giving the user time to read the book.

Process

We started with building the very first interaction: light censor. For this functionality we used the photocell sensor and the very primitive code from Arduino tutorial.

Then, we started adding more interaction pieces to this system. To test our prototype we used a LED light first. When we were able to make it working we also added the proximity sensor into the system.

Next step was adding an AC power relay to the system to make it working with the grid power. Here's a short clip Nate texted me very late at night with "Can I get a F#*$ YEAH" message, when he managed to make it working.

Our initial idea was to use the Ikea lamp and to build in these two sensors into it, but what I admire Nate for is constantly pushing the idea further. He pitched an idea to build a nightstand with a lamp and a phone charger just a couple of weeks before the final project was due and we decided to go for it. Nate spent his own time making the stand, using laser cut machine, painting the casing and assembling it. And it turned out really great!

Here's out final product video, thanks for reading!