meilinz

This critical design explores the ways voice-enabled interfaces could impact social development and behavior.

The goal of this project was to develop a pair of devices that could allow parents who become soldiers and go overseas to communicate in a meaningful way with their children. Long distances are tough for any relationship, so we hope that with our device we can keep relationships strong by providing a way to communicate in a unique way with a loved one.

Display motion when the device owner has a calendar event beginning soon. 15 minutes prior to an event, a pendulum with a cat on the end begins to slowly move up toward a little bird in a tree. At the meeting start time, the cat will reach the bird and a Neo pixel ring illuminates bright red lights near the bird. It is glance-able and actively displays since it is synchronized to the owner's online calendar. Make sure you get to your meeting on time or you will see the

This is an IoT device to remind my dad watering my mom’s plants when she is not at home. It works by detecting moisture in the plant soil. If there is sufficient soil water, all 3 LEDs will keep lighting. As soil water becomes more and more insufficient, the LEDs will fade away. And if the plants are out of water, there will be only one LED light and IFTTT will immediately send out a SMS message to my dad. Also there is a switch to disable/enable the soil moisture.