Shine & Rise

Inspiration

The idea sparked during brainstorming about the difficulties of consistent mornings and the need for a intuitive alarm that will never forget to wake you up even when you forget to set one . Sunlight provides a universal wake-up cue, so we created something that combined technology with the simplicity of nature, we designed a sunlight-sensitive alarm that activates only when the sun rises, helping people wake up in tune with the sun

What it does

The phone’s light sensor detects sunlight, using the Phyphox app to capture and export light data. Python reads this data and triggers the alarm when sunlight reaches a set brightness level during a specific time range. Users would place their phone by a window, and the alarm activates when sunlight reaches the threshold.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was managing real-time light data. While our current prototype reads static CSV data, we aim to develop real-time processing in the future. The light intensity changes based on the weather, for example overcast weather would need a different threshold then bright sunlight. Another challenge was designing the alarm to function consistently across diverse lighting environments, especially in regions with variable sunrise times.

What we learned

Building Ryse and Shine taught us about the limitations and possibilities of mobile light sensors, the power of Python for real-time data handling, and the importance of user-centric design. We also learned that creating a seamless user experience can be challenging, especially when dealing with real-world variables like sunlight variation.

What's next for Shine and Rise

We hope to improve upon our idea in ways like adding an external sensor that can communicate with the phone so the user does not need to put their phone near the eventual light source while they sleep, as well as adding more customization with sounds and light thresholds

Built With

• python