Introduction
New year, new season! We are so excited to share that season 3 of our Youtube Series, Potentially Genius has finally arrived! Our sponsor, DigiKey, a top electronics components distributor founded in 1972, has a fresh new look to boot! This season, every episode will introduce viewers to a different component supplier associated with DigiKey. DigiKey has a whopping 17.2 million components from 2,800 name brand manufacturers, all ready to ship out. At Tomorrow Lab, we love hanging out on DigiKey’s site for shopping, getting inspired and refining our design choices. From motors to advanced chips, these components are the building blocks for any hardware product. We have also streamlined our process and made the videos a few minutes shorter to make viewing even easier and more enjoyable. Season 3 will feature five episodes, to be released throughout this year. With Potentially Genius, we aim to showcase our creativity and provide inspiring content that empowers viewers to embark on new projects!
What is OURS?
OURS stands for ‘Office Universal Regulatory System,’ which is what the Tomorrow Lab team created for this episode with SparkFun’s Thing Plus MATTER MGM240P, a feather wing style electronics development board, originally designed by Silicon Labs.
This fancy little component lets us integrate with the MATTER ecosystem, with a prototype board, which allows us to connect with home automation systems right out of the box. For those unfamiliar with MATTER, it is an open standard for smart home technology that allows your device to work with any other MATTER certified ecosystem using a single protocol. Silicon Lab’s Principal Product Manager, Rob Alexander explains that this product is great for wireless mesh, has bluetooth capabilities built right in, and is very low powered with deep sleep capabilities as well.
We wanted to find a use for this component beyond home automation. Our first concepts were a modern grocery store tool that could be used to help people pick up orders or restock; a system of smart organizer boxes that could be used in offices to help people locate tools, supplies, etc. We landed on the idea of a desk controller that shares personal preferences with your coworkers. Specifically environmental preferences, like temperature, lighting and music. Using an RFID card to ‘check in’ at your desk, it lets others know you are in the office and tailors your environment to your specific specifications, which can be changed in real time.
Key Components
Tomorrow Lab’s impressive electrical engineer Dorian, explains all the components he picked out on DigiKey’s site:
- An OLED screen
- Male & female header pins
- A few RFID tag cards
- A few rotary encoders
- A few temperature sensors
- A few qwiic cables
- A lipo battery
- A few push buttons
- A raspberry pi
- And finally, a radio co-processor
Wow, that is a lot of components! 😆Thanks DigiKey! Dorian goes on to explain that originally we planned to use a Google Hub as the main commissioning device to the MATTER network, but found that the Google Hub can only control other devices and wouldn’t allow us to connect one MATTER device to another MATTER device. The raspberry pi became the hero as the main hub and commissioning device in order to allow the MATTER devices to talk to one another, as well as thermostats and lightbulbs.
One of Tomorrow Lab’s two Partners, Pepin explains that the entire OURS device is meant to be set into a desk seamlessly, as if it was always meant to be there. The temperature and mood on the OURS interface are controlled by knobs, with the OLED screen right above the knobs.
Tomorrow Lab’s stellar mechanical engineer, Julia shows off the CAD and 3D printed prototype. She explains that she makes sure everything fits together well and moves nicely. Julia and Pepin then put lots of little finishing touches on the prototype to prep it for the final presentation. A little printing, a little sanding, and lots of soldering!
In the final presentation, Pepin explains that OURS is a controller interface that lives in your desk. There are three options:
- #1 – Preferred temperature! 🌎The user can choose a set temperature or have the device cycle through different temperatures throughout the day.
- #2 – Vibe! 🎶The user can dial between calm and energetic. It can affect the brightness and color temperature of the users lighting, and even the users music.
- #3 – Lunch train! 🍱When enough people join the ‘train,’ OURS will let everyone know when lunch has arrived or when it’s time to head out for lunch together.
What a silly, useful and GENIUS idea for the new hybrid working world! I wonder what the Tomorrow Lab team will come up with on the next episode!
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