[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CphsgESZGcE&feature=player_embedded%5D
It seems everybody has a different interpretation of the perfect alarm clock. [Loic Royer’s] alarm clock is not the loudest, or the smartest, but does have some interesting features. By monitoring several environmental factors like temperature, air quality, humidity, dew point, and your own sleep patterns, this alarm clock can determine the best moment in the morning to wake you up.
The main sensor is a wireless accelerometer with the theory being: the more you move in your sleep, the closer you are to a conscious state. The other sensors assist in picking the perfect moment, and awaken you with the sound of birds chirping.
For now all we have is the source code and the list of hardware, but for anyone wanting to try, a circuit diagram wouldn’t be too hard to figure out on your own. Check after the rift for some more videos.
Setting the clock:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H51m5tOAKqQ&feature=player_embedded%5D
Different sensors:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OHXxB8jQfU&feature=player_embedded%5D
Wireless accelerometer:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKqmedNijh8&feature=player_embedded%5D
very interesting project but for all that i think a bigger screen would be in order … maybe PSP screen sized and in color and very vibrant but this is a nice start
Ideally no alarm clock would be best…
@biozz
Why such a big screen? It’s an alarm clock. The screen isn’t a feature to be used except during programming & time reading.
@Roboguy
for one its an alarm clock that is supposed to give humidity and whatever other information and when your just waking up the last thing you want to do is focus to read an alarm clock
secondly an alarm clock is used mostly as a regular clock and reading a small poorly lit poorly contrasted screen is more effort and more strain than should be on such an advanced clock
@LoicRoyer
This sounds like a job for JeeNode!
Cheaper than using an arduino/Xbee combo, and completely compatible with arduinos.
http://cafe.jeelabs.net/lab/jn4/
This could also avoid a morning wood :D
Is that a cobalt motor box?
Very nice idea. (I actually remember seeing it some time ago).
There’s something that I am missing, where exactly is the acceleration sensor mounted?
How often does it find that right moment for waking you up, before the maximum allowed hour? I am asking this because I’ve recorded myself sleeping a few times and i found out that some nights i don’t move at all during sleep, I wake up in the same position that i fell asleep.
I need to find somewhere to get a bunch of cigar boxes for project enclosures. This one looks pretty solid, whatever the box was from.
What factor does Air Quality possibly play in waking you up, or is that just an info display?
I guess if you or anyone sleeping with you is gassy it’s best not to wake up when the air quality is ‘poor’.
@biozz
Well, it doesn’t have to supply that information. From my reading of the HaD post, I gather that it uses that info itself, and that the user doesn’t need to know about it.
It could be that they don’t use their alarm clock as a normal clock – they might rarely use their watch or a projection clock for telling time. I use my cell phone as an alarm clock, and I read the time on my watch when I wake up.
Even if they do read the time off their clock (in which case I agree that a larger screen is needed), I’m not sure they would use a “[PSP-sized color screen]” on such a project when a cheaper, lower resolution B&W screen would be better suited for time display.
This is pretty cool, but I would replace the bird sensor with a REM sensor. If you wake during REM, you always feel refreshed. Plus, birds start chirping at 4 AM in the summer here… don’t want to wake up then.
a big random number generator would do the same as all the fancy sensors in combination
@Roboguy
it gives “temperature, air quality, humidity, dew point, and your own sleep patterns” so i believe one would also use it as time
plus i dont know many people who buy an alarm clock and a clock so its as simple as putting 2 and 2 together
probably used it because its cheap and easy to interface not to mention a psp screen (sparkfun #LCD-08335) is $60
thats why i said its a nice start
@biozz: I can see the number perfectly well, even at a distance, but some people complained that the screen is a bit small (girlfriend). I guess I am lucky with my eyes (until now ;-))
@Bogdan: The accelerometer is attached below the matress in a way that it registers as much movement as possible. A cable goes to the alarm clock.
@M4CGYV3R: The air quality has nothing to do with waking up. I just like to monitor air quality, reminds me to open the windows…
The idea came because sometimes I would wake up with a headacke if I had not open the windows. I just need a lot of oxygen during my sleep. I am really experimenting right now to figure out how I can best use all this data I collect to optimize my sleep…
couldn’t you replace the accelerometer with an infrared motion detector?
Am i to assume it only starts monitoring within a certain timeframe (say, one hour before latest wake-up time)? if it monitored my movement all through the night and used that to signify waking me up, it’d go off every hour all night long.
@bdirgo: interesting board…
@jones: Maybe, it all depends how sensitive it is… Testing would be needed…
@aeiah: Exactly, I set a ‘waking up deadline’ and it monitors sleep for a periode before, I choose 1 hour.
I don’t see the point of waking you when you are almost awake in the first place but maybe I’m missing something? Isn’t an alarm clock’s business to wake you when you are asleep so you don’t come late for work and such?
@Loic Royer
You do have plenty of oxygen in the room. What I think you are actually experiencing is CO2 poisoning.
can any one help with the schemetic?
i want to do this project plz