AURA | Devpost

Seven segment display in action
Servos
IR Receiver
Shift Register driving seven segment display

Inspiration

What it does

AURA consists of two servo motors, in order to control a light switch and a set of blinds, respectively. These servos can be controlled both automatically and manually. The automated mode changes the position of the servos twice a day based on the hour. The first change happens in the morning, and is set up so the light switch would be flipped up, and the blinds would be open. The opposite happens during the second change, which occurs at night. The hours that activate the servos can be easily changed through two small code edits. In order to display the system time to the user, a seven segment display shows the current hour in duodecimal (base 12), using digits 1-C. In order to differentiate between am and pm, an LED lights up during pm hours. The manual mode is controlled by reading signals sent by an IR capable device. Currently, the IR receiver is set up to recognize four signals sent by my phone. Each one of these signals is mapped one direction of rotation of each servo.

How I built it

I used an Arduino Uno, an IR Receiver, a seven segment display, two servos, and a shift register to give me more digital outputs.

Challenges I ran into

Displaying the time was by far the greatest challenge I faced. I first tried to use a four digit display, but this took up too many digital outputs. I could not use the shift register with this display, either, as it would draw too much current. The second major part of the problem was the am/pm led. This took a very long time to figure out.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

My biggest achievement was getting the automated system to completely work. It took forever to get the display and the system time in sync, and I felt such a rush of happiness when all of the components finally worked the way I wanted them to