Elevate

Our interactive device is meant to be placed in the living room for anyone to place a cup of coffee, their keys, or anything else. It is mean to highlight the item and create an aesthetic for the user. Imagine waking up in the morning, going to make a cup of coffee and then sitting down in the living room to read a book or watch some TV. You would place the cup on the table and the panel it is on will rise and have a backlight emphasizing your cup and creating a soft light around it. This device would be successful if the users appreciated the aesthetic and are not annoyed by the shift in level. We will do this by creating only a slight shift in level change, enough so there is still an emphasis on it.

We will make the table out of wood and create an enclosed region for the sensors and actuators. It will be a 16.5” x 16.5” table, which is made up of 4” x 4” panels that will lift. In total there will be 16 compartments, divided by 1/4″ wood slats (1/2″ where two compartments meet). Inside each compartment there will be an LED light, a load sensor under the panel to detect if anything is placed on the panel, and linear actuator to shift the panel up or down.

The panel will have two states, loaded and unloaded. The Arduino will poll the load sensors and determine the states of each panel. If any panel has changed state from the previous polling, the panel will be updated. If the panel is loaded (and below a determined load limit), the LED light will activate and the linear actuator will raise the panel by a height that is equivalent to the thickness of the panel. If the panel is unloaded, the linear actuator will lower the panel back to resting, and the LED will turn off.

The key technical challenge will be creating the linear actuator. We plan to use a stepper motor attached to a lead screw which will raise and lower the panel by a given height.

IDEATION:

Isometric View:

Top and Side View of Table Without Panels On

Project in Context: