Inclusive Environment Monitor

1. What this project is about?

In today’s world, accessibility is crucial for ensuring everyone can benefit from technology. So I decided to prepare a project with inclusive design to help getting measurement about the following room parameters - temperature, CO2, luminosity, and sound levels. Why I chose these parameters?

Monitoring environmental parameters such as temperature, CO2 levels, luminosity, and sound levels is essential for maintaining a healthy living and working environment:

• Temperature: extreme temperatures can lead to health issues such as heatstroke or hypothermia. Keeping track of room temperature helps maintain a comfortable and safe environment.
• CO2 level: high levels of CO2 can cause headaches, dizziness, and fatigue, and prolonged exposure can have more severe health effects. Monitoring CO2 levels ensures proper ventilation and air quality.
• Luminosity: proper lighting is crucial for reducing eye strain and maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm. Ensuring adequate light levels can improve overall well-being and productivity.
• Sound level: excessive noise can lead to stress, hearing loss, and sleep disturbances. Monitoring sound levels helps create a more peaceful and health-friendly environment.

2. Hardware and software parts of the project

Inclusive environment monitor project uses the following hardware components to provide real-time environmental data:

• Micro:bitV2: displays values on an LED screen and announces them via speech output.
• Grove Shield for Micro:bit: connects the sensors to the micro:bit
• Grove Sound Sensor: measures ambient noise levels
• Grove Temperature Sensor: monitors the room temperatur
• SGP30 Gas Sensor: detects CO2 levels
• Grove Luminosity Sensor: measures the light levels in the room.

The coding involves using the micro:bit's capabilities to read data from the sensors, display the values on the LED screen, and convert the data into speech. This way, blind and visually impaired individuals can easily access the information.

For the coding part I used Vittascience programming interface for micro:bit.

3. Programming the project

Shortly, to make this project work you need to connect micro:bit to the Grove shild and then connect the sensors to the shield: SGP30 sensor should be connected to a digital I2C port, temperature sensor connects to an analog pin P0, luminosity sensor connects to an analog pin P1, sound sensor connects to an analog P2 port. Then we program the buttons: button A will be connected to CO2 sensor and when the button is pressed we will first see the value on the LED screen and the we hear "Carbon dioxyde" and then we hear its value. The same is done for three other sensors, connecting a button B with the temperature sensor, senisitive logotype button of the micro:bit is connected to the luminosity sensor and sensitive P2 pin is connected to the sound sensor (which is by itself connected to P2 so it makes sense).

I prepared a detailed video about how to program this project step by step and during the last minute of the video I show closely how the inclusive enviroment monitor is working and pronouncing the values:

The result of this project is a fully functional monitoring station that provides essential room parameters in an accessible format. By announcing the values along with their parameters, the Inclusive Environment Monitor makes it easier for blind people and those with vision impairments to understand their environment. This project not only promotes accessibility but also enhances well-being by ensuring that environmental conditions are continuously monitored and maintained at healthy levels.