Disobedient Objects

 

The Disobedient Object

Our disobedient object is called the “Aka-Pan”. Aka is Japanese for baby and just like an annoying screaming baby, the “Aka-Pan” screams when it’s hot. This is a contradictory twist on the sole purpose of a cooking pan, to transfer heat and be hot.

The “Aka-Pan” comprises of a temperature sensor and buzzer that is connected through the Arduino. When the temperature is hot, the buzzer rings alerting its user that it does not want to be hot and discourages them from cooking. This can also function as a kind of alarm that reminds forgetful users that they left the pan too hot. The Aka-Pana is both disobedient and thoughtful!

You can view our promotional video through the link below:

“Introducing the Aka-Pan”

 

The Process

We first started our journey to create the Aka-Pan with a simpler exercise, using the temperature sensor to light up and control a LED bulb. We followed an online setup and code. Without any issues, the LED worked and the brightness was indeed influenced by the temperature read on the sensor!

Next, we had to swap out the LED bulb for the buzzer instead. This was when it all got messy and the confidence we gained from the first exercise completely vanished. It was really hard to find a matching setup and code that actually worked. We searched thoroughly online for some help with the setup and codes, however, the online sources we found had either really bad quality photos of setups or really complicated codes which we could not understand, let alone manipulate. We wanted to get a consultation with Lei but all the timings had been booked… We then decided to try combining what we learnt previously in class on the buzzer setup and joint it with a set up for the heat sensor we found online. After much troubleshooting and failed attempts it “kinda” worked! The only problem was that it was reading a degree of like 200 plus? Hahaha. We ended up burning our only temperature sensor and had to call it a day. Turns out, we mixed up a few of the negative and positive pins for some of the elements. After going down to Sim Lim Tower and getting more temperature sensors, we re-essembled the setup with the pins in the right directions and it finally worked.

I think we learned a pretty valuable lesson from all this trial and errors, it is not about copying the codes and following the setups we learn in class. We believe that it is necessary to actually understand how and why it works in order to be able to manipulate it to work for other various projects. 

You can view our making video through the link below:

“Behind the Aka-Pan”

 

The Setup

The is our set up for the Arduino board. 

One thing we realised when attaching the pan is that the crocodile clips can’t touch each other, otherwise it messes up the readings. (You learn something new every day.)

Yes, we also made the stove hahaha.

 

The Code

Well one thing we learnt from using an Aurdino is that open source is really important and can really help dire students like us. Hence, here’s the code we used for our project! Feel free to copy it haha!

 

float sinVal;
int toneVal;
unsigned long tepTimer ;
void setup() {
pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);

}

void loop() {
int val;
double data;
val = analogRead(0);
data = (double)val * (5 / 10.24);
if (data > 16) {
for (int x = 0; x < 180; x++) {
sinVal = (sin(x * (3.1412 / 180)));
toneVal = 300 + (int(sinVal * 150));

tone(8, toneVal);
delay(1);
}
} else {
(data < 16);
noTone(8);
}
if (millis() – tepTimer > 50)
tepTimer = millis();
Serial.print(“temperature: “);
Serial.print(data);
Serial.println(“C”);

}

 

Despite multiple challenges along the way and a few burns from the temperature sensor, this was a really exciting experiment and we can’t wait for the next one!

 

 

A group effort with:

En Qi