domain researcher × programmer

MEDITATIVE MIRROR

The Meditative Mirror was a group project created for an Introduction to Technological Systems class.
Myself and three other team members ensembled an interactive monitor model. Our task was to create a physical interactive piece using code in Processing in conjunction with Arduino to showcase our knowledge in wiring interactive systems along with functioning code.

This project focused context within the health domain. We saw importance in aiding users with state-anxiety, classified as the situations of spontaneous panic attacks. We wanted the mirror to be an immediate form of comfort and health maintenance for the user.

TEAM

Nadia Yonata × Joshua Fan × Pedram Rafie

MY ROLE

Code written for the Arduino to receive the physical sensor readings on the mirror.

The core function of the mirror is to initiate an LED-feedback breathing exercise for the user. My role was to synthesize physical sensor code with Joshua’s LED strip code into a single program. I oversaw code output of a galvanic skin response, pulse, and ultrasonic sensor. These readings then printed on an LCD screen, which I combined within Arduino. On the side, I debugged sensor readings in Processing, displaying this as a second form of output in a GUI.

In its conceptual phase, I was also in charge of looking into the effects and needs of our target demographic, which were users that experience state-anxiety. I looked into the need for a breathing exercise if users experience panic attacks, which lead our concept of the lights dimming to imitate an inhaling-exhaling pattern.

a diagram outlining how the mirror works in its prototype phase — The intended functionality diagram before the final physical model was built. Daniela Valdes, 2017

This code was integral to execute our intended design. I ran into issues where sensor readings were delayed as they attempted to read and print values parallel to one another. Though the readings were laggy, the necessary readings would still print in the end. Users could also opt to view the live readings in the console within Processing.

CONCLUSION

We were able to efficiently split roles into our most proficient skills, coming together to create one cohesive, clean product. I was confident in my coding logic for this course. Our final product made it evident that our individual efforts were executed best when combined as opposed to splitting all roles across the team.

back to projects