Inspiration
After enduring one too many PDF readings on our laptops, we decided to bring back the good ol' days of books. Sometimes, scrolling through a seemingly endless PDF or online textbook is tiresome. We wanted to bring back the satisfying feeling of flipping a page without abandoning the practical, convenient, and eco-friendly nature of e-reading.
What it does
The Page Turner is an actual page turner! When you flip the page, the Page Turner uses an ultrasonic sensor to detect the page turn and consequently "turns" the page on your e-reader. The servo then flips your page back into place so that you can endlessly flip the page to control your e-reader.
How we built it
We used the Arduino Zero, a servo, and an ultrasonic sensor. We wrote our program in the Arduino IDE and implemented the Keyboard, Servo, and Ping libraries. Other physical materials included empty cardboard snack boxes (thank you, PennApps!), handfuls of wires, and lots of zip ties.
Challenges we ran into
From finicky ports to bad connections, we encountered many roadblocks. We had difficulties dealing with the Arduino ports, since we were working with an Arduino Zero, which seemed to be less well-documented than the Uno. After much consultation with other people and online guides, we managed to work around it. We also had to test every wire we were using after discovering a shaky connection, which we ultimately attributed to the breadboard we were using and decided to do away with it altogether.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
This was our first hackathon, and we're very proud that we were able to overcome the obstacles we faced and complete our project.
What we learned
It's hard to build a project on an unfamiliar platform, and sometimes we worried that the most current obstacle would be insurmountable, but we found that, when we kept on pushing and beating at our problems, we were able to finish with a final product to be proud of.
What's next for Hackathon
We'd love to enhance the Page Turner and perhaps even incorporate augmented reality. We've played with the idea of using Google Cardboard to make it appear as if text were appearing on the blank page of the Page Turner.
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