Curious Cube (Project #2)

• A cube that dramatizes the shadow that the user casts upon it. It contains a light sensor, and changes its light output to reflect the amount of light it senses.
• A cube that has likes people but has a limit to the amount of social interaction. It glows until it senses human motion via a passive infrared sensor. After a prolonged period of time with a lot of motion, it "tires out" and "closes up" by becoming very dim.
• A cube that likes to be spoken to softly. Similar to the above, it emits a glow that invites users to approach it. It changes color as it is spoken to. If it is spoken to in a very loud voice, it will become very dim.

3 sensors that can be useful in implementing intangible interaction:

• A force-sensitive resistor can be useful for intangible interactions, as long as it's not measuring the force applied from a user's hands or arms! They can be used to sense weight and to sense whether objects have been placed in a certain area.
• RFID can be used to sense when a tagged object is placed close to the sensor.
• Piezoelectric sensors are used for both microphones and accelerometers. Maybe we can use a microphone to detect movement?

I tried out the ADPS9960 gesture sensor and made a small project with it! The ADPS9960 includes a light and color sensor. I used the light sensor to determine if the room was dark, and changes the color scheme of the computer based to match the room.

Code (Arduino):

#include "Arduino_APDS9960.h"

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  // wait for Serial Monitor to open:
  while (!Serial)
    ;

  Serial.println("hi");

  // if the sensor doesn't initialize, let the user know:
  while (!APDS.begin()) {
    Serial.println("APDS9960 sensor not working. Check your wiring.");

    delay(1000);
  }

  Serial.println("Sensor is working");
}

void loop() {
  // red, green, blue, clear channels:
  int r, g, b, c;

  // if the sensor has a reading:
  if (APDS.colorAvailable()) {

    // read the color
    APDS.readColor(r, g, b, c);

    // print the values
    Serial.print(r);
    Serial.print(",");
    Serial.print(g);
    Serial.print(",");
    Serial.print(b);
    Serial.print(",");
    Serial.println(c);

    delay(100);
  }
}

Code (Computer, Deno + AppleScript):

import { readLines } from "https://deno.land/std@0.77.0/io/bufio.ts";

let lastSetting: boolean | undefined = undefined;
async function setDarkMode(setting: boolean) {
  if (setting === lastSetting) return;
  lastSetting = setting;

  let process = await Deno.run({
    cmd: [
      "osascript",
      "-e",
      `tell application "System Events"
      tell appearance preferences
              set dark mode to ${setting}
          end tell
      end tell`,
    ],
  });
  await process.status();
}

if (import.meta.main) {
  let process = Deno.run({
    cmd: ["make", "monitor"],
    stdout: "piped",
  });
  for await (let line of readLines(process.stdout)) {
    let m = line.match(/(\d+),(\d+),(\d+),(\d+)/);
    if (m) {
      let [_, sr, sg, sb, sc] = m;
      let [r, g, b, c] = [sr, sg, sb, sc].map(parseFloat);
      console.log(c);
      setDarkMode(c < 45);
    } else {
      console.log(line);
    }
  }
}