Vision
The House Coach is an interactive system that makes a game out of house management, motivating you by awarding you points for each chore you complete
on time and taking them off if your laziness gets in the way for too long.
The House Coach can be installed in an apartment, house or a student’s room; it is especially designed to assist young people that just moved out to live by
themselves and are struggling to get used to the tough task of managing a house, but it can of course be fun and useful to anyone!
Purpose and scope
Our system is oriented towards people that just moved to live on their own for the first time.
The main idea is to help them with housework, by notifying them about the issues to be solved and making it easier to keep an eye on the conditions of the house.
The tasks still need to be done by the user, but the monitoring is done by sensors and data are collected by Arduino and saved in a database accessed by
a mobile application, the main processing node, which also has features to make the interaction more interesting and playful.
Features
Doing chores will be a blast.
Ami
1. Sensitivity - the system is able to sense the level of dust in different rooms, dirty clothes in the basket, dirty dishes in the sink and garbage in the bins; it also recognizes when the user is starting to complete his/her task.
2. Responsivity - the system analyses the data collected by the sensors and notifies the user.
3. Adaptivity - the system adapts to the conditions of the house and the behaviour and habits of the user.
4. Intelligence - the system understands the meaning of the collected data and whether it is time to notify the user or start cleaning the house without the user's intervention.
5. Ubiquity - the system keeps an eye on the condition of the whole house, through sensors placed in every room.
6. Interactivity - the systems communicates with the user throught an avatar in a friendly interface, notificatons and clear signals in the house, such as coloured lights.
Priority #1
7. It lists all the tasks
8. Provides live updates on the house statement
9. Reminds to check the status of the house through notification at preferred time
10. Easy installation and integration with the house
11. No technology preparation required thanks to the user friendly app
12. Constant monitoring of the house through sensors
Priority #2
14. Visual aid through led lighting up the spots needing attention
15. Points system in the app to engage user in housekeeping activity
16. Gadgets are avaliable to be bought with points as reward
17. User has their own profile to login into application
18. Online games or interaction with other users having the HouseCoach application
AmI steps
Sensing
The system detects the dust level, when the dishes or laudry need to be done or the garbage needs to be thrown out, and when the user has started cleaning.
Reasoning
The system analyses the collected data and understands when it is time to send notifications to the user or directly intervene.
Acting
The system is able to show the level of urgency of the task through a colored lights code, to turn on the washing machine or dishwasher when needed and to activate a Roomba to clean instead of the user.
Interacting
The system is used through a user-friendly interface, where a personalized avatar can be built, that communicates with the user; the system sends notifications when needed and plays a jingle when the tasks are completed.
Architecture
Data collection and partial processing:
• Data are collected by sensors, partially processed by a software running on Arduino and sent to an online database
Data storage:
• Sensors' data and account data from login and register are stored in a phpMyAdmin database hosted by 000Webhost
App (on mobile phone):
• The mobile application reads sensors' data from the database, processes the values and displays results in a user-friendly way. Implements a points system rewarding the diligent behavior of the user and sends notifications to the user at a time chosen by them.
Modules:
• Central server, external to the house, receives the data from the local server, elaborates them and sends notification to the app;
• Local server, coordinates all the smart devices in the house and sends data to the central server;
• Arduino program to collect data from the sensors and send them to local server;
• Sensors collecting data;
• Mobile application receiving notifications from the central server and interacting with the user.
Sensors:
• are located on the planned spots;
• are connected to one single Arduino by use of wires.
Arduino:
• is using a Wi-Fi network to connect to server and reach user through MobileApp;
• the change comes from 5V power source;
• is the "brain" of the system.
Actuators:
• are controlled by a single Arduino;
• might have an auxiliary power source.
MobileApp:
Java
Android Studio
Web-design:
HTML
Arduino Yun:
C/C++
Databases:
PHP
SQL
HC-SR04 Ultrasonic sensor
It measures distance by sending out a sound wave at a specific frequency and listening for that sound wave to bounce back. By recording the elapsed time between the sound wave being generated and the sound wave bouncing back, it is possible to calculate the distance between the sonar sensor and the object.
Sharp GP2Y1010AU0F
- is an optical air quality sensor, designed to sense dust particles. An infrared emitting diode and a phototransistor are diagonally arranged into this device, to allow it detecting the reflected light of dust in air.
Arduino Yun
- is an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple i/o board and a development environment that implements the Processing/Wiring language. Arduino Yun is the first member of a new groundbreaking line of WiFi products combining the power Linux with ease of use of Arduino.
Philips Hue
- is a smart lighting system that enables you to wirelessly control the lights of your home. Philips Hue can welcome you home, wake you up, get you energized, help you feel safe, improve your mood and much more.
• The sensors will be wired to the Arduino and it will only exchange analogical information.
• All the other connections will be based on Wi-Fi, so it will be necessary that Server, Smartphones and Arduino will belong to the same lan.
Open issues
Arduino or Raspberry Pi?
We had a better know-how of Arduino, that RasberryPi.
What kind of robot can we place a sensor on and let it wonder through the house?
No robot needed
Where should we keep the sensors' data?
000webhost chosen to host database
Where should be processing be done?
Processing done in the mobile application
team
Engineering students from the Politecnico di Torino
Aybek Guan
Design and Automatization s217662@studenti.polito.itAybek95
Giulia Murtas
Software Developer s223110@studenti.polito.itGMurtas
Syed Musa Raza
Hardware and Networking s206912@studenti.polito.itSMUSARAZA
Contact us
Address:
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24Turin, Italy, 10129.