Photophopia

Inspiration

We were inspired by the idea of making everyday objects more interactive and emotional. While traditional lights require a simple switch, we wondered: what if a light could decide whether it wants to shine?

As humans become increasingly dependent on smart devices, we imagined a world where even the smallest actions could become conversations. Instead of walking to a switch, why not convince your light to turn on? This led us to create an emotional lighting system where a light's happiness determines whether it shines.

What it does

Photophobia is an emotional light system that turns human conversations into illumination.

Unlike a traditional light bulb, our light does not turn on immediately. It first needs to become "happy enough." Users can interact with the light by speaking compliments, encouragement, or positive messages such as:

"You are the best light bulb ever!"

The light's happiness score increases based on the emotional meaning of the sentence. When the happiness level reaches a certain threshold, the light turns on.

However, negative interactions can decrease its happiness. Saying something like:

"You are useless."

will make the light sad and eventually cause it to turn off.

The light also gradually loses happiness over time if it is ignored, encouraging users to continue interacting with it.

How we built it

We built a web-based prototype that emulates an emotionally aware light bulb. The system uses a laptop microphone to capture users' voices and converts speech into text.

The text is then sent to a Large Language Model (LLM), which evaluates how the light should feel and generates a happiness score. Based on this score, the system controls the virtual light:

High happiness → the light shines brightly
Medium happiness → the light dims or changes state
Low happiness → the light turns off

This creates an interactive experience where natural language directly controls the behavior of the light.

Challenges we ran into

Our original goal was to connect the system to a physical light bulb and control real LEDs. However, we encountered hardware compatibility issues when connecting the LED system with the computer and controlling it reliably through software.

To overcome this challenge, we built a software-based simulation of the light bulb. This allowed us to focus on the core idea: creating an object that can interpret emotions and respond to human interaction.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of creating a light system that feels responsive and alive. Instead of simply reacting to button presses, our light reacts to human language and emotions.

We transformed a simple household object into an interactive companion that listens, evaluates, and responds to the way people communicate with it.

What we learned

Through this project, we learned how to combine hardware concepts, web development, speech recognition, and large language models to create an interactive AI-powered experience.

We also learned that adding emotional intelligence to everyday objects can completely change how users interact with technology. Even though an emotional light bulb is not the most practical invention, it creates a more playful and memorable relationship between humans and machines.

What's next for Photophobia

In the future, we hope to bring Photophobia into the physical world by connecting it to real smart lights and IoT devices.

We also want to expand the light's personality by adding:

Long-term memory of previous conversations
Different personalities for different lights
Mood changes through colors and brightness
More complex emotions such as excitement, boredom, and curiosity

Our goal is to transform Photophobia from a simple light controller into an emotionally interactive companion that brings personality to everyday environments.