1B – Arduino Project – Perry the Predator Pillow

The Team

Kaitlin Schaer as scribe; Bryan Gardiner as tutor; Ruben Markowitz as designer; Anna Failla as integrator

Introduction

In a time where the logistics of sleep can be all too much to handle, there is a solution! There is a smarter pillow, a pillow that will wake you up just when you need to get your day started. Perry the Predator Pillow is an adorable yet creepy little friend that will help you out with all your sleep scheduling needs. Perry has a programmable wake-up time, so that your day can start off right. But this is no ordinary alarm clock pillow — the only way to shut off the alarm is to open up Perry’s mouth, revealing his big teeth, teeth that will stop you from going back to bed!

 Video

Technical Notes

Circuit Diagram

Our Arduino code works quite simply- it checks whether pressure is applied to the pressure pad within, and if there is, a few different things can happen. If this is the first time pressure is applied in the cycle (as in when laying your head on Perry,  going to bed for the night), Perry will play a soothing little tune to help you fall asleep. The music is created by indicating a sequence of frequencies that correspond to the correct notes for the particular song, and plays through two small speakers. After a defined interval (which is editable based on how long you need to sleep for), another tune is played, this time to wake you up. They will keep going, at increasing volume, until you get up. The only way to turn off the noise is to open Perry’s mouth, which turns off the circuit. Once open, the teeth are exposed, preventing you from going back to bed.

Photos