CHEERS!
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, USA
Internet of Things
Team Project
Jan - Mar 2017
TEAM
Mark Byrne | Tongtong Lu | Nick Stone
MY ROLE
Team Brainstorming | Scenario Development
Starter Coding | Conceptualization
Prototyping | Particle Platform C++
These connected devices help good friends and loved ones drink together remotely. Enabling them to drink in unison and be alerted when each takes a drink so they can cheers together in real time.
As people move away from home, they leave their friends and loved ones behind. Chatting over the phone and via Skype can bring them together for small talk and catch up conversations, but they are missing an element of emotional connection and intimacy in their connection.
Cheers! set out to prepare a conceptual design and realize a working prototype of a product for connected intimacy. Remote intimacy often considers sending ‘gestures’ that help couples coordinate and communicate over a distance, adding missing cues to enhance their relationship. By using the gesture of 'cheers', thus clinking your drinks, you will never have to drink alone again.
CHEERS Connected Placemats
Typical User Scenario
When friend 1 fills their glass, fried 2 gets an alert that friend one is drinking. Friend 2 can then fill their glass and they are both in synchronization to socialize together. On each sip, the other friend will get notified and they too can raise their glass to the sound of a clink.
The NeoPixel LED ring indicates how much alcohol the other person has taken, and it changes color and pattern according to the stage of the social drinking procedures. A pressure sensor can judge the weight of the glass, thus detecting the change of liquid level and monitors when a glass is filled, as the volume decreases, and when it is emptied thus signaling to the other friend they have finished their drink.
Working Prototype
Circuit Diagram & BOM