IFD:PhysicalComp2011/Dianna Mertz

In-Depth: Smart Containers

Need

Question: Is there enough flour and sugar at home to make a cake for your friend's birthday tomorrow? Or do you need to stop at the store on your way home?

Concept

Containers for pantry bulk items that relay content levels to smart phone app in real time.

Equipment

• Arduino
• Sharp GP2D120XJ00F Analog Distance Sensor 4-30cm
• Container
• Computer

Prototype

(coming soon)

Code

Arduino

int sensePin = 1;   // infrared sensor to analog pin
int value;     // value coming from the sensor

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600); // start the serial port                          
}

void loop() {
  int value = analogRead(sensePin); // current value of the sensor
  byte scaledVal = map(value, 0, 600, 0, 255); // rescale to send as one byte     
  Serial.write(scaledVal);  //print the distance
  delay(100);  // arbitrary wait time
}

Processing

Serial myPort; // variable for the serial
import processing.serial.*; // reads information coming in through the server via Arduino
int incomingVal; // incoming number value
int r; // example
int b; // example
int q; // example
int o; // example 
 
void setup(){
  size(255,255); // visualization window size
  myPort = new Serial(this,"/dev/tty.usbmodem411",9600); // my Arduino port
}
 
void draw(){
  background(0); // background black for visualization
  while(myPort.available() > 0){
    incomingVal = myPort.read(); // while new data coming in from Arduino, store in variable
  }
  float reVal =map(incomingVal, 51, 255, 0, 255); // rescale the incoming value to the depth of the container
  fill(reVal); // fill the visualization with the rescaled incoming value
  rect(0,height - reVal,width,height); // draws rectangle of the incoming value
  println("Pasta:" +(reVal)+ " Rice:" + r+ " Bulgar:" + b+ " Quinoa:" + q+ " Oats:" + o ); // incoming value to be seen in console
  PrintWriter output = createWriter("data/data.tsv"); // send info to external file
  output.println("Pasta:" +(reVal)+ " Rice:" + r+ " Bulgar:" + b+ " Quinoa:" + q+ " Oats:" + o ); // directs which information to be written to new file
  output.flush(); // write the info
}

PHP

(Uploads data to web)

 <?php 
$file_handle = fopen("data.tsv", "r");
while (!feof($file_handle)) {
   $line = fgets($file_handle);
   echo $line;
}
fclose($file_handle);
?>

References

Reference for Sharp GP2D120XJ00F Analog Distance Sensor 4-30cm
Arduino – Using a Sharp IR Sensor for Distance Calculation
The Right Way to Read Files with PHP