Final concept: The Connectree
With this connectree, I want to reinvent the true meaning of a Christmas tree. How can a Christmas tree connect people and create warmth and happiness, how can I make a Christmas tree smart?
Why?
For many years Christmas trees have looked the same, they have also retained the same function: connecting people, coziness, and presents. But this traditional tree is mostly passive, people walk by it without noticing (besides the presents). How to take the Christmas tree a step further? How can I give the Christmas tree a contemporary interpretation with today's technology? Let's connect, interact and create happines
What
From your cell phone or computer, you will be able to send messages to your own, or someone else Christmas tree. These can be text messages, nice drawings, and webcam motion effects. This Christmas tree is made for friends or family who cannot celebrate Christmas together. Or for people who are tired of a regular passive tree and want something new, something with more interaction and advanced features
If you send a message to someone else tree, this message will then be formed letter by letter by the led's of the tree. By every incoming text message, there will be a physical bell ring.
You can also make a drawing and send it to the Connectree, choose your favorite color and make a nice drawing in someone else's tree (or your own tree). You can also use this feature to play cozy Pictionary together.
As a final option, you can also send motion to the tree. Via webcam tracking, various landmarks of your body (such as your eyes or nose) are then transmitted live to the lights of the Connectree. When you draw there are two different modes, just drawing, and live drawing. In drawing you can first finish your drawing to perfection and then send it to the tree. With live drawing each brushstroke is shown immediately (live).
In addition to these 4 main functions, there are also a few extra functions for the tree owner. On the dashboard page of your tree you can see the temperature and humidity of the room, but you can also activate the burglar and cat attack detection. If the tree detects a cat attack (just falls over) the owner will receive a notification. Furthermore, through this panel the owner can determine who can send messages to the tree. Only the owner can acces this control panel with an unique pin code.
Who can connect with my Connectree? Each tree comes with 5 baubles (Christmas balls) by default (you can expand these later). Each bauble has a QR code that goes to the specific URL of the tree. For security reasons you also need to fill in a pin code, which is also on the back of the bauble. With these details you can log in to the site and send messages or drawings. You as the tree owner can choose to whom you give these baubles. You can mute Christmas balls through the control panel in case your friends stalk you with messages. These baubles have a few more tricks upon it sleeves. When you shake the ball, there will be a heart (❤️) displayed in the tree.
How - The deliverables
What do I want to achieve with this project? What technologies do I want to explore? I always try to look beyond a traditional computer, look beyond a 2D screen as output and look beyond a mouse and keyboard as input. With this assignment I want to increase my knowledge in hardware, specifically in Arduino combining with the web (wirelessly). I might be a few stops behind, but I would like to get on the train of Internet of Things. Connecting everyday things to the web.
How can I use the Arduino as output, but also as input? How can I control or monitor this hardware from the web? How can I connect two Arduino’s with each other wirelessly? And most importantly, what object do I want to make smart and connect it to the web?
The following topics I do want to master during this project: Arduino, C++, Controlling and monitoring hardware over the web (live, over WiFi), Controlling led strips from a completely self made interface, Making an everyday object subtly smart (Christmas ball & tree), Using Arduino's without it being connecteted to a computer, but with a Firebase real time database. Fluently combining hardware with software, making two smart objects communicate with each other on their own over WiFi (ball and tree). Sending text messages to the tree. Drawing on the tree from your browser (live). Showing your body on the tree using webcam pose tracking and AI. Showing data from the tree to your browser in real time (temperature, movement with the motion sensor,...)
A bit more about the client
This Christmas tree is made for friends or family who cannot celebrate Christmas together. For example, a grandmother in a retirement home, or students at their dorm during the studies, or distant family on the other side of the ocean. Or simply for people who are tired of a regular passive tree and want something new, something with more interaction and advanced features.
Send a message to my tree: The https://cesardegreve.be/connectree/?tree-id=Rudolph-A3EpYEF7zU
Showcase video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzB-w4OoR9A
