PK04 - Ambient Location Awareness System (The "Weasley Clock" IoT Project)

Supervisor: Kalchgruber

Problem Statement: Staying informed about the safety and whereabouts of close family members often involves intrusive measures, such as constantly checking text messages or using tracking apps on a smartphone. This demands high cognitive attention ("Active Monitoring"). In contrast, "Calm Technology" aims to provide this information peripherally—using ambient light or physical movement to convey status without demanding focus.

Project Goal: The goal is to design and build a physical Ambient Information Display (IoT Device). Inspired by the "Weasley Clock," this device will visualize the location status (e.g., "Home," "Work," "Transit," "Gym") of tracked users using physical actuators (servo motors) or light patterns (LED rings), rather than a digital screen.

Core Tasks:

  1. Data Ingestion (MQTT): Instead of building a mobile app, set up an MQTT Broker to ingest real-time location data from open-source apps like OwnTracks or Home Assistant installed on the user's phone.
  2. Geofencing Logic: Implement a backend service (Python) that maps raw GPS coordinates to semantic states (e.g., Lat/Lon 48.208 -> "University").
  3. Hardware Construction: Build the physical display using a microcontroller (ESP32 or Raspberry Pi) e,g,.:
    • Use Servo Motors to move a physical hand pointing to the current location.
    • Use an RGB LED Ring where specific colors/positions represent locations.
    • …
  4. Privacy Management: Implement a "Privacy Mode" switch on the device that stops data visualization when guests are present.

Research Focus: 
The research focus lies on a User Study on "Calm Technology." The student should deploy the device in a home e.g., for 1 week and evaluate (via diary study or interviews) whether it reduced the urge to check phones (Information Anxiety) or improved the feeling of connectedness compared to standard mobile notifications. 
Advanced Option: Implement a Machine Learning model to predict the next destination based on historical movement pattern.

Technologies: ESP32 / Raspberry Pi; MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport); Python / Node.js; Servo Motors / NeoPixels; OwnTracks API

Tags: Ambient Displays; Pervasive Computing; IoT; Ambient Intelligence; Calm Technology; Tangible Interfaces; Kalchgruber

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