HWFA-Happy When Far Away

For my final project in a physical computing course, I made a socially distanced mood changing robot that I call Hwfa-happy when far away. This robot can assist people with visual impairments to stay 6 feet away from others. The robot will display a happy face when others are outside of 6 feet from the wearer. Also, it will display a frown and begin to beep when others are within 6 feet of the wearer.

Arduino nano

9V battery

Solderable breadboard

5 LED strips with 5 LED's each

Ultrasonic sensor

Active buzzer

Resistor

Wires

Switch

Voltage regulator

Felt

Cardboard

Christmas garland

Strap

Hot glue

I used a laser cutter to create the face of the robot. I used precise measurements so that the LED's and the ultrasonic sensor would show through but nothing else. I then placed the LED's in the holes and taped them to the inside of the enclosure and did the same for the ultrasonic sensor. Next, I used cardboard to create the bottom and the back of the robot. I cut two slits in the bottom piece so that I could slide the strap through. I used a separate piece of cardboard and hot glued Christmas garland to it to make the hair. This piece can easily be removed to change the battery on the inside and turn the switch on and off.

After uploading my code to the microcontroller, I connected the Arduino nano to the middle of the breadboard. I also connected a voltage regulator to the middle of the board with a switch right beside it. The switch is connected to power and ground and the voltage regulator is connected to the power and ground on the 9V battery. I connected the LED's to power, ground, and D2 on the microcontroller. I connected the ultrasonic sensor to power, ground, trig to D6 and echo to D7. I connected the buzzer to power, ground with a resistor, and D12. I then secured the board to the inside of the enclosure on top of the LED's.

Lastly, I wrapped the felt around the entire enclosure with hot glue. After turning the robot on and returning the hair to the top of the robot, I began testing. Here you can see that the robot is happy until another person comes within 6 feet and then it begins to beep and frown.

This is the link to my code:

https://gist.github.com/ramerame13/efc990762733fdd95de4b907f0c922fc