Alarm Clock

The Project:
A man is lying peacefully in his bed, waiting for morning. When his alarm is placed over a light sensor, morning comes and the alarm goes off. Like all too many of us, his natural reaction is to smack the thing and go back to bed.

The Action:
A servo pulls a level glued to the man's back and inserted through the bed. This lever causes the man to sit up in bed. The fishing line controlling the extension of the arm runs through the man's back and is attached to the bed such that when he sits up the arm is extended automatically. The arm knocks the alarm clock over and the servo returns the lever to its original position, with the arm curling back in as it does.

This instructable will address creating the project both with and without the utility a laser cutter provides. There's a tremendous amount of room for aesthetic expansion, so we implore you to consider that at every part of the process and consider the addition of aesthetic elements. The elements we added, including things like the lamp, are at the end of the instructable, though you're not likely to want to do them all at that part of the process (so read through things and weave your ideas into the whole process!).

Two Videos

The Team
This project was completed by Tommaso Buvoli, Kristina Callaghan, Bruce Deakyne, and Phillip Dunlap for CU Boulder Things that Think Spring 2011.

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Materials

Materials:
With laser cutter:
Sheets of wood,
Wood Glue,
Fishing line,
Drill,
Tape/general adhesives of choice,
Coffee Straws
Rubber Bands

Without laser cutter:
Dowels,
Sheets of wood,
Wood Glue,
Fishing line and wire,
Band saw,
Drill,
Tape/general adhesives of choice,
Coffee straws
Rubber Bands

Electronics:
Microcontroller (we used Arduino Mega),
Resistive Light sensor,
100,000 KOhm resistor,
3-5v buzzer,
Servo motor,
9V battery,
LED (for lamp add-on)
1 KOhm resistor (for lamp add-on)

mrdovie says: May 13, 2011. 7:50 PM

Hi, Your project inspired me to make a few weather toys with moving arms. Check out Ms Robot and Pierre the Gendarme on my Instructable Weather Robot. I like electronics, but didn't use any here. It's in gadgets.