Alarm-X | Devpost

Inspiration

Have you ever had a friend who consistently showed up late to gatherings, blaming it on oversleeping? Or perhaps you've experienced the frustration yourself of sleeping through multiple alarms, only to wake up groggy and disoriented? This common dilemma was the driving force behind the creation of our project.

Inspired by personal experiences and anecdotes shared among our team, we recognized a glaring gap in the effectiveness of traditional alarm clocks. While sound-based alarms have been the standard for decades, they often fall short when it comes to waking up heavy sleepers or those who easily fall back asleep after hitting the snooze button.

Fuelled by the desire to tackle this issue head-on, our team embarked on a brainstorming session to reimagine the modern alarm clock. We sought to create a solution that not only jolted users awake but also provided an unforgettable and energizing wake-up experience.

What it does

Masoclock is designed to serve the same purpose of any alarm clock, to wake the person up. Unlike most modern alarm clocks, the Masoclock not only plays a loud abnoxious sound every couple seconds, but also triggers confetti poppers in an attempt to wake up the sleeper. (current prototype is set for 8:00am)

How we built it

We started by getting basic alarm features implemented such as coding the display and buzzer. Next we figured out how to activate the servos using the Arduino and then we implemented a way to trigger the servos based on a certain amount of time. After getting all the modules to functions we designed a simple frame to house all the components using cardboard.

Challenges we ran into

(1) Getting the LCD display to light up

It was the first time our group worked with an LCD display so we had to rely on the internet a lot to figure out how to wire and code the display. Eventually we found a the rgb_lcd library that came with example code, studying the example code we managed to get the display to display text and display a counter which could be used to later display the time.

Finding a way to get the Arduino to keep track of time, since we didn't have a separate rtc module for our Arduino. Fortunately, we found out that. the Arduino Due's microprocessor has a built in RTC and the associated library. This allowed us to code in a specific starting time and let the microprocessor do all the calculations related to keeping track of time.

(2) Changing from a Raspberry Pi to an Arduino

Originally our project was going to be built with a Raspberry Pi, however we ran into problems trying to get our Pi to work. We tried many solutions and even went to the mentors for help, but eventually we decided to switch to an Arduino via a Qualcomm dev kit. This allowed us to get some major progress in such as getting the LCD display to light up and getting the servos to spin too.

(3) Getting the Nerf Gun and Water Gun to work

Originally the Masoclock was suppose to shoot Nerf gun darts and water via a watergun towards the sleeper but unfortunately due to time constraints we couldn't find a way to pull the triggers of both guns

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite of all the challenges we encounter within the 24 hours time constraint, we are proud of all the following features that were successfully able to implement:

(1) Coding the Ardunio Due and servo (2) Getting the display to show "Rise and Shine" along with the time being displayed exactly underneath it (3) The buzzer being triggered at the exacted expected time and effect (4) Getting the confetti blower to pop when the alarm is triggered

However, something that we all are extremely proud of is that despite all of us having a CS background with few hardware experiences, we were able to configure an alarm system from scratch and adapting on the spot to the difficulties that we encountered, especially having to shift our whole plan when we had to go from Raspberry Pi to an Arduino.

What we learned

We learned how to both wire and implement code for various arduino modules and how to configure parts together to create a whole system starting from stratch. We learned how to implement our creative ideas into real life given time contraints.

What's next for Masoclock

The future of Masoclock is the an alarm clock that has all three successful features being a water gun, nerf gun, and the confetti blower. The product design is simple, covered, functional, and very human.