Weather Pal
Weather Pal
A convenient and streamlined approach to weather assistance.
Lachlan
Weather pal is a simple and user-friendly way to access the weather for your area. It uses motion detection and facial recognition to decipher if the user is giving it attention and then acts accordingly. For peace of mind, the activation of the camera will trigger dual red LEDs to illuminate. If it recognizes a face, a chime will play, and it will display a basic weather report for the day based on the Open Weather Map API. If the user wants more information, they can tap the button to hear a more detailed report read out to them. Weather pal is meant to be mounted to a wall so that it is always ready to go!
Love the project! I really liked your use of the camera to detect motion and the images used were both informative and pretty.
Thank you! I think using motion + facial recognition in tandem makes for a great combo.
I loved how the little arms display the upcoming forecast.
Thanks Aiden! It limits the display of the forecast but it’s so much more fun.
I loved how interactive it was with speaking as well as showing if it was sunny or cloudy outside. One thing that might be helpful is that when it speaks it specifies its units.
Thanks Ben! That is a great idea. I shouldn’t assume everyone uses freedom units.
Love the video and editing! Almost looks like a real pro kickstarter video!
— Ian
Thanks Ian! It took a little longer to make than I had hoped but it seems to have turned out ok.
I really enjoyed the editing and additonal features of the robots, how do you prevent any errors with the facial detection?
Thanks Matthew! Currently there is no real way to prevent errors with the facial detection. In the future, I think a double press on the button would be a great way to override the facial detection if it doesn’t work.
I love how the little arms display the upcoming forecast.
i like the tone at the beginning, and the cuts between sentences.
Thank you! I tried to keep the energy of the video as high as (reasonably) possible.
I think that it’s very clever to use the motors as a sort of display system, since the GoPiGo itself has very limited means to display information.
Thank you! The arms can’t display a ton of information compared to a real display but they’re far more fun.
This is actually really cool, this could really go places, nice work
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed my project.
This video looks very professional! Nice job!
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it.
Definitely a cool project. Is there any way you could make more arms for other types of weather?
Thank you! Yes! It would require more servos because I found that having more than two weather types per forecast can be confusing.
Hi Lachlan, loved your pitch, this is a really relatable want! The mechanical display of the weather coupled with the button for more information is awesome. What are your plans for later stage prototypes?
Thank you! I think future revisions would involve using a 3d printer to create a custom enclosure. This would minimize the footprint of the device and make wall mounting it easier. A custom enclosure would also make it much prettier which I think would entice more people.
The video is so nicely done. Also, the fact that recognizes humans and ignores animals is a very cool thing, that I’m interested in adding to my project.
Thank you! I would encourage you to revisit the computer vision notebook. It is surprisingly easy to integrate facial detection.
Loved the video and the demonstration was really well done!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed my project and presentation.