Project Overview

Many homeowners would appreciate being able to control their lights from anywhere.  However, we identified that the current solutions in this space do not meet the needs of many average consumers. Existing solutions are often expensive and also require a user to handle electrical wiring (something that many people are not allowed do in a rented space, and which many people are not comfortable with). To address this, we created a capacitive light switch cover that can be easily mounted, and has the added benefit of being controllable with a mobile-app.  

Approach

We first conducted interviews with homeowners and residents of various ages to understand the needs of potential customers. Early responses suggested that a lighting solution would have most appeal amongst young adults. As such, we conducted an online survey to better understand the student demographics. Our data revealed that it would be important for the solution to be cost-effective, durable, secure, comfortable/ergonomic, safe to use. Minimal installation and maintenance efforts were also important factors. Since many of our users were students renting their accommodation, the most important finding we had was that the proposed solution should not require users to modify the existing infrastructure in the dwelling.  We used these insights to generate ideas and later evaluate and compare them against one another. Finally, we built a functional prototype based on the winning concept.

Results

The final prototype was developed using a rotary motor powered by an Arduino microcontroller with Ethernet and radio-frequency components. It successfully allowed users to control a light switch through a physical capacitive touch sensor and a Smartphone application that interfaced with the Arduino system.

Course

Completed as a 3rd Year Design Project in the Systems Design Engineering Program at the University of Waterloo. Done in collaboration with Marc-André Simard, Adam Thagard, Audrey Chung, Vithu Logan Jeya, and Kenneth Ng.

Themes

Smart Lighting Systems, Remote Control, Home Improvement 

Skills & Technologies 

User Surveys, Sketching, Photoshop, Arduino, 3D printing

My Role

For the customer-research, I created the online survey and interpreted the results. I was involved in the concept generation and programming of the microcontroller. I was solely responsible for the design of the user-interface and the branding efforts.