Harry Potter (or Weasely to be more accurate) Clock
Summer 2013 - Present
Overview
Dude I wish magic was real. I wish we could teleport from one place to the other without having to walk. Or what if we could move things without touching them with our hands? And oh man, if we could have these wands that illuminate the area around us when it got dark, we'd be all set!
I guess we'll just have to get by with our boring old cars, remote controls and flashlights. sigh.
That whole magic/technology bit got me thinking, what does the Harry Potter world have that we don't? We've got every flavored jelly bean imaginable, we've wands that can kill people and potions that can heal people, and yep, we've even got quidditch. But one thing that I thought was a really cool idea (props and creds to JK Rowling) was the clock in the Weasley's household that would tell not the time, but the location of each of the family members. My mom's always complaining that she doesn't know where I am or what I'm doing. What if I could put up a clock in the living room and say "look mom, just check this thingy, I'm going out. k bai"
With the advent of smart phones and the interwebs, I think the time has finally come. A Harry Potter clock in every home!
I guess we'll just have to get by with our boring old cars, remote controls and flashlights. sigh.
That whole magic/technology bit got me thinking, what does the Harry Potter world have that we don't? We've got every flavored jelly bean imaginable, we've wands that can kill people and potions that can heal people, and yep, we've even got quidditch. But one thing that I thought was a really cool idea (props and creds to JK Rowling) was the clock in the Weasley's household that would tell not the time, but the location of each of the family members. My mom's always complaining that she doesn't know where I am or what I'm doing. What if I could put up a clock in the living room and say "look mom, just check this thingy, I'm going out. k bai"
With the advent of smart phones and the interwebs, I think the time has finally come. A Harry Potter clock in every home!
Sketches
Here's a prelim sketch I did to try to flush out the "look" of the clock. I thought it might be cool if the face of the clock was "floating" as if by "magic." whoa.
The backend housing shows a servo and a place to mount an arduino/router.
The backend housing shows a servo and a place to mount an arduino/router.
Then I started thinking, huh, how can I actually show the location of each family member at the same time? It's not as simple as a clock, which can have one mode of actuation and a bunch of gearing to get the hands right. Each of the (in my family's case) 6 hands must move independently of each other.
Eventually I thought of the idea of sliding permanent magnets around a magnetic sheet. Instead of having 6 separate servos controlling 6 hands, you have one servo behind the magnetic sheet controlling a single arm. A stepper motor drives a belt on this arm, changing the linear position of another permanent magnet along the arm (upper part of picture).
So it's basically polar coordinates. To move each family member's individual magnet, you first move radially until you get to their section (see lower right of picture). Then you sweep the arm until the magnet behind the sheet attracts the magnet on the sheet. Once engaged, you can sweep to the new position. To disengage, you can move the magnet radially, and walls dividing the radial sections will "scrape" the front magnet off the back magnet.
At least, that's the concept. Will it work? ... ... ... TBD
Eventually I thought of the idea of sliding permanent magnets around a magnetic sheet. Instead of having 6 separate servos controlling 6 hands, you have one servo behind the magnetic sheet controlling a single arm. A stepper motor drives a belt on this arm, changing the linear position of another permanent magnet along the arm (upper part of picture).
So it's basically polar coordinates. To move each family member's individual magnet, you first move radially until you get to their section (see lower right of picture). Then you sweep the arm until the magnet behind the sheet attracts the magnet on the sheet. Once engaged, you can sweep to the new position. To disengage, you can move the magnet radially, and walls dividing the radial sections will "scrape" the front magnet off the back magnet.
At least, that's the concept. Will it work? ... ... ... TBD
App
Here's a screenshot of the app as defined in activity_main.xml. The layout could definitely change, but I thought a 12 button grid would be a good start for a 12 hour clock layout. Each button is a position on the clock, and only one button can be active at a time.
When a button is pressed, it sends a JSON command over the interwebs to the IP address of a router connected to an arduino ethernet shield. The arduino can then acknowledge that it received the command so that the android app is happy, and parse the command into usable information. This could contain a user ID and location ID, and the arduino can go off and do it's thing.
When a button is pressed, it sends a JSON command over the interwebs to the IP address of a router connected to an arduino ethernet shield. The arduino can then acknowledge that it received the command so that the android app is happy, and parse the command into usable information. This could contain a user ID and location ID, and the arduino can go off and do it's thing.
hp_clock_-_arduino.zip | |
File Size: | 1 kb |
File Type: | zip |
hpclock_-_android.zip | |
File Size: | 980 kb |
File Type: | zip |