One of the biggest questions that arose this christmas was how does the brain store information. We are familiar with digital disk drives, new flash drives, magnetic cassette tapes and laser burnt disks. But what is the beautiful, analog and human way of storing enormous amounts of data?
It’s me, I crash the family car.
Luckily, my wife can almost never be blamed for any of our car incidents. If she were to cause some trouble, I would probably stigmatize her and blame her for being a typical woman. I would say she is stressed out over normal traffic and putting on makeup in the rear view mirror while driving. She would feel very bad, and probably try to camouflage the dents with mascara or whatever black she has in her purse.
She makes a mess inside the car, though. She believes the car is an extension of her purse, and throws bags, receipts and extra pairs of shoes everywhere. But that can easily be cleaned out.
I run into poles in parking lots and my own garage.
And this is where the AVR is coming to my rescue: I’m making a device that turns on the lights in the garage for me when it sees my brake lights, backing in.
When it is rainy and dark (the average weather in Bergen) the rearview mirrors cover with rain drops, dispersing my visual rays into a blur. The garage opening is a narrow black hole. You might think that this black hole has so high gravity that it sucks the car in, but no, the only mass in there is a set of spare wheels and years of dust.
I think the garage was built sometime in the medieval, when people were tiny and families didn’t travel much. I might be wrong about history, but the garage is small. Leaving little space on either side or in front of the car when it is parked and the gate is closed. So I need light to see. Automatic lights.
I could of course switch on the lights when I’m out opening the gate, but that would be a change of routine. And the brain is rigged to celebrate lazy repetitiveness in the daily operations, and punish any attempt on changing. Try brushing your teeth with the hand that normally just hangs around while teeth get their daily shampoo, and you will feel the backlash from the hub. I might be able to turn on the garage light every time I open the gate, but I might also end up forgetting to put on pants or bring the kids. Not something I’m willing to risk, so I make something new and slightly useful to do the job.
You got the concept? I back up to the garage, a light sensor sees my brake lights, and turns on LED strips in the garage to illuminate my path of easy parking. No more expensive and embarrassing repairs on the car or the garage.
Of course there will be an AVR controlling the lights, and I will use a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) to see the brake lights. The PCB layout will be similar to my shelf light project, but this time I will use the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) in the AVR. The ADC turns the resistance readings from the LDR into a number, and I can set a threshold for when to turn on and off the LED strips (which I will mount in the garage. Also, I will add a serial connection with a bluetooth device to help me calibrate the sensor, and perhaps add more features later on. It will run of grid power with a 12V DC converter in the socket.
Sounds fun?
Landing a thousand projects 