Inspiration
I recently moved into a house with 7 other friends. The room that I am residing in does not have any windows. So when I wake up, no matter what time it is it always seems like it is 3am. I have woken up at noon thinking it was 4 in the morning.
What it does
Our hack uses an Arduino to pull API data about the sunrise and sunset. It also checks to see if has gotten a Bluetooth signal from my phone. It then sends data to my laptop which decided whether or not to turn the lights on. If my phone is not connected then it won't connect, or if the time is incorrect.
How we built it
We used the Lutron kit to dim and brighten the lights. I coded in C++ to be able to establish a TCP socket connection with the TCP server the Lutron was running through it's router. And I also used C++ to talk to the Arduino. The Bluetooth and getting data from the API were taken written in Arduino by my teammate, August Ning.
Challenges we ran into
We expected to just get a light we could dim or brighten. Getting something we had to TCP connect to made what seemed like a simple task a daunting one. To get around this issue I had to make a large workaround with the Arduino using it's wifi connection to grab the API data because my laptop did not have an internet connection. Another issue we ran into was that we needed to have https get request for an API and an Arduino cannot handle those. We ended up switching apis to a more Arduino friendly one, but wasted many hours attempting to get this idea to work.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I am very proud of the connection between the varying devices. Niether of us have done any neworking or anything to do with a server before.
What we learned
I have learned a lot about servers and how to get different devices to talk to each other. August also gained a lot of Arduino experience which will no doubt be helpful in his future as an electrical engineer.
What's next for Rise with the Sun
We want to move to an easier system without the Lutron. This would lower the amount of devices we would need. We would then iron out some of our creases and eventually install it in my room.
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