Process

The idea of the product is to have a coaster with an embedded weight sensor to measure the presence and weight of a cup or a water bottle, and surround by an array of LEDs that would project light around the coaster subtly drawing the attention of the user towards it.

The initial MVP of the display was setup using an FSR sensor to measure the presence and weight of the cup and 3 different colored LEDs to illuminate different stated of the system.

Yellow - Cup not on the coaster (Reminding to place the cup on the coaster)

Green - Cup on the coaster (Reminding to drink water after a fixed amount of time)

Blue - Cup empty (Reminding to fill up the cup and drink after a fixed amount of time)

The first version was a simple LED program that would light up LEDs of different color according to the force registered on the FSR sensor.

Next the logic of turning lights on and off was built to register placement and removal of filled or empty cup.

Next the logic of time was built in. For the purpose of demonstration, the delay was kept for 5 seconds, i.e, if the user has not had any water for 2 hours (5 seconds for demo), the coaster would glow green to remind the user to drink water.

Final logic of the program -

If the cup is not on the coaster for 10 minutes, glow yellow to remind user to place cup on coaster

If the cup is on the coaster untouched for two hours, glow blue or green (if empty or filled respectively) to remind the user to drink water.