You can use all kinds of numbers and rating systems to determine whether the air quality in a given room is good, bad, or somewhere in between. Or, like [Makestreme], you could go for a more human visual interface. He’s built a air quality monitor that conveys its information via facial expressions on a small screen.
Named Gus, the monitor is based around a Xiao ESP32-C3. It’s hooked up with the SeeedStudio Grove air quality sensor, which can pick up everything from carbon monoxide to a range of vaguely toxic and volatile gases. There’s also a THT22 sensor for measuring temperature and humidity. It’s all wrapped up in a cute 3D-printed robot housing that [Makestreme] created in Fusion 360. A small OLED display serves as Gus’s face.
The indications of poor air quality are simple and intuitive. As “Gus” detects poor air, his eyelids droop and he begins to look more gloomy. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily tell you what you should do to fix the air quality. If your issue is pollution from outside, you’ll probably want to shut windows or turn on an air purifier. On the other hand, if your issue is excess CO2, you’ll want to open a window and let fresh air in. It’s a limitation of this project that it can’t really detect particulates or CO2, but instead is limited to CO and volatiles instead. Still, it’s something that could be worked around with richer sensors a more expressive face. Some will simply prefer hard numbers, though, whatever the case. To that end, you can tap Gus’s head to get more direct information from what the sensors are seeing.
We’ve seen some other great air quality projects before, too, with remarkably similar ideas behind them. Video after the break.
[Thanks to Willem de Vries for the tip!]
Sir this is Microsoft your computer has virus.
It looks cute, but to me the link between the eye animation and the air quality is not obvious. Who would have guessed that the state of the eyes is a way to express air quality levels if they hadn’t been told beforehand? You can put your hand on top of the device to show the actual temperature and humidity readings, but that defeats the purpose of the eyes.
Personally, I think that this canary (https://thegadgetflow.com/product/canairi-bird-air-quality-monitor-senses-co2-helps-you-improve-your-homes-air-quality/) is a better idea.
I think a bigger display with a little animated chibi anime girl (or boy) is needed here – she can hold up little indicator icons, or even little boxes with the actual values, colored from green to red, based on whether they are good or bad. If more than two measures are bad, she can just juggle multiple boxes.
Everyone loves chibi anime characters, after all, despite some people stubbornly insisting otherwise😋