olfactory notifications
DESCRIPTION
How to setup a system (a bit hacky :-) ) to switch a USB relay when there are new mails in order to have olfactory notifications.TRANSCRIPT
Traditional senses and notifications
Hearing
Traditional senses and notifications
Hearing
The oldest church bell in the world [...] dated to 1211-1216
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_bell
Traditional senses and notifications
Hearing
Sight
Smell
today
Touch
Taste
(or a vibrator!)
Previous research
Wasabi fire alarm scoops Ig Nobel prize for Japanese scientists
Friday 30 September 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/30/wasabi-fire-alarm-ig-nobel-prize
More senses
Balance and acceleration
Temperature
Kinesthetic sense
Pain
Other internal senses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense
Some time ago...
Use smell to notificate about... new emails
How it could be done
Arduino?
Something to warm up a scent?
Fan?
What else?
Olly the robot
Not Olly
Olly is too big
Too nice
Needs a 3D printer
I bought:
Problem
2 £ device
It's dumb. Cannot be controlled
(you can connect in the wrong way!)
I had to do something to switch on/off the device or the USB port
What it does? Just gets hot
Power off USB port
Hardware limitation on common controllers: not possible (some USB hubs could do...)
You can switch off the port, not power off
(USB memory sticks stops blinking, but still has 5 V)
See: http://marc.info/?l=linux-usb&m=127162615232234&w=2
I had the USB relay
2 years ago I bought and didn't use a USB relay
I “adapted” a USB cable (red cable is +5V)
Connected the USB relé and switch on and off using a small script:
stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 9600
On: echo -e '\xff\x01\x01' > /dev/ttyUSB0
Off: echo -e '\xff\x01\x00' > /dev/ttyUSB0
Demo
IMAP checker
IMAPClient Python module
IDLE support:
Waits updates from the server, keeps an open TCP connection
If some email is in the whitelist:
smelling email!! :-)
smell.pyUSB relay
controls relay (on/off)
+5V
IMAP(mail server)
check-mail.py
IMAPClient.py
USB ports
check-mail.py (1/3)
from imapclient import IMAPClient
import smell
WHITELIST = ['[email protected]', '[email protected]']
HOST = 'pinux.info'
USERNAME = 'carles'
PASSWORD = 'my_password'
check-mail.py (2/3)
def check_wait_imap():
server = IMAPClient(HOST, use_uid=True, ssl=ssl)
server.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)
select_info = server.select_folder('INBOX')
print '%d messages in INBOX' % select_info['EXISTS']
check-mail.py (3/3)
while True: server.idle()
smell.py
import osimport time
usb_dev = "/dev/ttyUSB0"
Demo
Questions?
?Information (slides, code, etc.):
http://pintant.cat/2012/06/02/olfactory-notifications/