This ESP32 mission gave my workplace a “temper ring” that reacts to calendar occasions, the climate, and extra

My youngsters purchased temper rings in the summertime that change colour, supposedly to replicate your present temper. This gave me an concept for constructing a temper ring of my very own for my workplace that will give me helpful data at a look.

I gave my Cheap Yellow Display one other job

I needed one thing totally different from a typical dashboard

A Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) is a really versatile instrument for the value. It’s an ESP32 board with a small, built-in touchscreen show, and you should buy one for round $15. With ESPHome, you’ll be able to create configuration recordsdata that compile into firmware for the CYD, letting it do no matter you need.

I’ve a CYD in my dwelling workplace that I exploit as a part of my music discovery setup. A playlist of latest music is generated every week, and when it performs, the album paintings is displayed on the CYD. I can faucet the display screen so as to add songs to a separate shortlist playlist, and once I play by way of this shortlist, tapping the display screen mechanically provides the album to my Apple Music library.

I needed a great way to make use of the CYD once I wasn’t enjoying music, and sharing data appeared like a very good possibility. I did not simply desire a boring dashboard, so I made a decision to get slightly extra experimental.

The climate units the colours

Music will get issues transferring

The concept was to have the CYD show a temper ring that will change based mostly on present and upcoming occasions. The very first thing that I needed to show was the climate.

I exploit the OpenWeatherMap integration in Home Assistant to offer particulars of the climate circumstances in my location. It exposes circumstances comparable to sunny, partly cloudy, rain, fog, and extra. The temper ring does not cowl each situation, nevertheless it shows sturdy yellows for sunny climate, softer yellow for partly cloudy circumstances, blue patches for rain, and muted blue-gray patches for cloud and fog.

As the climate adjustments, so does the temper ring, so I can see the present circumstances at a look. There’s additionally a simplified textual content label describing the climate situation, comparable to SUN, SUN/CLOUD, and RAIN.

If I’m enjoying music within the workplace, the climate colours nonetheless stay, however the temper ring dances slightly, inflicting the patterns to shift. It does not analyze the audio or match the beat, and it does not actually serve any goal apart from to make the temper ring really feel slightly extra alive.

My calendar occasions change the ring’s temper

The ring adjustments the nearer the occasion will get

Perhaps probably the most helpful a part of the temper ring is that it may give me a visible indication of how shut upcoming occasions are. An hour earlier than the following occasion is because of begin, the ring exhibits a small patch of purple. This purple arc expands additional across the ring because the occasion will get nearer after which pulses throughout the ultimate 5 minutes earlier than the occasion is due.

Text within the heart of the temper ring exhibits a countdown to the occasion so I can see how lengthy is left in minutes. The occasion title seems on the backside of the display screen, so I can see at a look what occasion is upcoming and the way lengthy I’ve earlier than it begins.

The occasions come from a calendar within Home Assistant, which pulls collectively key occasions from my work calendar in addition to our household calendar. The CYD makes use of these occasions’ begin occasions to know when to start out displaying the purple parts of the ring.

The purple arc by no means expands to the complete circumference of the temper ring, topping out at 85% of the circle. That means, I can nonetheless see the climate colours even when an occasion is sort of due.

Sitting for too lengthy places the ring in a nasty temper

I can see when I’m being too sedentary

The ultimate factor that the temper ring does is present me when I’ve been sitting down for too lengthy. I’ve an mmWave presence sensor in my dwelling workplace, with a zone arrange that solely covers my workplace chair. The sensor can inform with good accuracy when I’m sitting at my desk and when I’m not.

After half-hour, the ring begins to fade. By 60 minutes, the ring seems to be more and more frazzled, and by 90 minutes it turns into darkish purple with jagged purple edges. If I go away my chair for 5 minutes, the ring resets to its authentic look. The time I’ve been sitting additionally seems in the course of the ring, so I can see precisely how lengthy it has been, although an occasion countdown replaces it if an occasion is arising.

The ring turns into a visualization of what I’m doing to my physique by sitting nonetheless for too lengthy. It’s a helpful visible reminder that encourages me to get up and move around extra typically.

Not each dashboard must be boring

I’ve by no means been a giant fan of good dwelling dashboards; for me, a wise dwelling ought to require as little guide management as potential, with most issues taking place mechanically. Some data is all the time helpful to see, however a temper ring is way extra attention-grabbing than one other show with buttons and numbers.