Outcome

Intention

Most people believe that attempting a long-distance relationship is crazy or sometimes even delusional. Relationships are hard enough without dealing with expensive plane tickets, time differences, and non-ironic “text hugs.” The main intention of our team was to come up with a comprehensive solution to deal with the time difference between partners who live miles away. The primary goal was to create an amazing product that will help one feel more connected to their significant other even when they are oceans apart. We have got the motivation to fabricate an intimate IOT device from the innumerable couples who suffer due to the massive time difference between places.

Context

The boyfriend is in the United States and the girlfriend is in India. The time difference between Pittsburgh and Mumbai is 10:30 Hrs. Assuming the girl had woken up, the boy usually tends to calculate the time difference and call her. Mostly he is held up with his work and hence he forgets which leads to a disagreement and grief. This phenomenon sparked an idea for our team. What if there was no time difference calculation ?? What if there is some sort of subtle indication that the partner has woken up 10,000 miles away ? We wanted to answer these questions. There are plenty of gadgets and applications to appease this situation. We wanted to create an interactive yet inexpensive device to solve the time difference problem. 

Bill of Materials

1. Breadboard  -  2

2. Photon - 2

3. LED Bulbs -  2

4. Resistors  -  4

5. Jumper Wires  -  Few

6. Alarm Clock  -  2

Process

Being in a long-distance relationship creates issues and challenges that one might not face in a “normal” relationship, but if he/she can handle that, then it can expedite emotional growth.  We wanted to create some sort of a device to reduce the stress between partners caused due to time difference of two places. We brainstormed various ideas to do that. Initially we planned to implement the idea in a band or a watch like device. Then that got modified to an acute photo frame. But then, after multiple iterations, we went forward with the alarm clock concept. The initial challenges encountered was to connect the two devices together to send and receive signals. But then we managed to tweak the code a bit and come-up with the solution.

Product

The Products consist of two identical alarm clocks each fitted with a switch that controls the alarm in the respective device as well as the small indicator bulb in the other device. The alarm clocks are in the shape of two hearts which are subtle yet effective. There is an LCD screen which is the indicator of time as well as the alarm diffuser. There is a socket with an LED bulb of favorable color on each of the devices as well as a switch that triggers the LED bulb. 

Reflection & Scope

Differences in time zones make connecting and communicating even more difficult. An extra dose of empathy and imagination is needed to keep in mind that the significant other is experiencing an entirely different part of the day or night. We brainstormed numerous ideas to combat the difficulties caused by this issue. Our team worked collaboratively on this whole project, each of us taking ownership of the tasks assigned to us. We researched on the current products in the market, brainstormed the possible solutions to the current problem, coded and prototyped the suitable solutions and documented the entire process. It was an enriching experience and we feel that we could have done better with the attributes of the clock if there was supplementary time. In future we would like to incorporate video greetings as well as sound integration to the existing model. We could utilize touch sensors as well as motion sensors for effective functioning of the device