calm technology

Where were you

People have a hunch that weather events have an impact on their breathing but focus of industry is on treating symptom (rescue inhalers, etc) - how do we empower people to verify and communicate these hunches?

What has changed

Focus. Wildfires again keep coming up this summer.

• https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07/16/weather/canada-wildfire-smoke-air-quality
• Pandji in Anaheim ( AQI - 137) //screenshot in chat
• Lifelineaid Instagram post
• April in Chicago ; “family said their throat hurts outside”
• Could (period of time) be a way to constrain the project ; hotter summers -> wildfires -> ozone trapping Inspirations. Still very much thinking about calmness in how we communicate; more integrated design feel
• https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbGNp-TOlit/
• https://reframe.camera/
• https://www.gentle.systems/page/weather-machine Language : chronic conditions get compounded by layered environmental stressors

Where are you going

• Build the Asthma Weather Journal App
• Write Thesis Threads around (data) layering / (pattern) sense making / (public relaying) witnessing

2 week plan

Week 1 - Build POC webapp / Recruit testing / Micro-interaction design

Webapp: button that logs nearby weather events ; AQI metric ; how are you feeling?

Week 2 - Deploy and test webapp

6 week mvp plan

Week 3 - ✨ Can we stay as webapp, or do we need to leverage iOS native APIs for location tracking? / technical design week

Week 4 - data/layering

Week 5 - pattern/sensemaking

Week 6 - relay/witnessing

12 week product launch plan

Week 7 - test / iterate / build

Week 8 - test / iterate / build

Week 9 - test / iterate / build / package

Week 10 - package / present

As we go week by week let’s keep logs (kinda like how we’re doing with Laurel’s class) I advocated that the presentation as far as storytelling craft we focus less on; so that work can be the focus. JH agreed

Project Plan : Felt Air / Calming Stone

Project Description

As part of my exploration into the ways in which we can make environmental conditions more felt, I ant to pursue a project that combines a past project I explored in software and taking it to physical space. With Weather Aura, I made a webapp that translated weather conditions into color, shape, etc.

(Show Weather Aura app)

System Diagram

Input - weather data (temp, humidity, aqi etc) either from an API or from a sensor(?) - or maybe we can do something comparing the API values to sensor values
/ Process - some sort of / Output - vibration, light, sound, visual. The original idea was to just draw visually on a small OLED screen different colors - basically the same thing as Weather Aura, but

I’m also wondering if we can display different kinds of views depending on proximity to screen. I have been collecting readings on technologies that are calming. Maybe instead of severity (high/lo heat, storms, etc.) reading as red, maybe we subvert that and show greens and blues instead

(Show list on Zotero)

Project Timeline

• Sept 29: continue sketching, consult with Bei
• Oct 1: figure out how to get the input data working
• Oct 6: initial wiring, explore different options and test
• Oct 8: consult with Bei, final edits\
• Oct 13: Wrap up and Doumentation
• Oct 15: Present\

Materials List

• Brains
  • ESP32-S3 board with STEMMA QT, e.g. an Adafruit Feather or QT Py ESP32-S3. It connects over WiFi and plugs straight into your I²C sensors.
  • Arduino Uno, as a backup or if you use the laptop-serial route.
• Input: Weather
  • Temperature and humidity sensor: SHT41, or BME280 if you also want pressure.
  • Particulate / PM2.5 sensor: PMSA003I (I²C). This is the one that makes AQI local and real.
  • Optional: an ENS160 or SGP30 for VOC and eCO2, which gives a better picture of indoor air.
• Input: presence
  • VL53L0X time-of-flight sensor, for proximity-based views. MPR121 capacitive touch breakout, plus copper foil tape for electrodes.
• Output
  • Color display. Your current OLED is monochrome, so it can’t show Weather Aura’s colors. A 1.28” round TFT (GC9A01) suits a stone form, and a 1.5” SSD1351 color OLED is another option.
  • Mono OLED, for debugging and early tests.
  • NeoPixel Jewel or a small ring, for ambient glow.
  • DRV2605L haptic driver plus an LRA or coin ERM motor, for smooth breathing-style pulses.
  • Small speaker plus a PAM8302 amp, or a piezo if you want sound to be minimal.
• Form
  • 3D-printed pebble shell in white or natural PLA, with 1–1.2mm walls so light passes through.
  • Steel shot or fishing weights for heft.
  • Optional: a real river stone and a printed base, for the halo version.
  • Sandpaper, and matte clear coat.
• Wiring and power
  • STEMMA QT / Qwiic cables in several lengths.
  • Breadboard, jumper wires, and headers.
  • USB-C cable. Stay tethered for the demo.
  • Optional: a LiPo battery if going cordless.
• Data (not hardware, but needed by Oct 1)
  • Open-Meteo: free, needs no API key, and has both weather and air-quality endpoints, which makes it the easiest to start with.
  • AirNow: official US AQI, if you want the authoritative number.

A framing thought for the system diagram: pairing an indoor sensor with the outdoor API reading gives you an inside-vs-outside comparison. That could be the "process" step: the stone expresses how the room differs from the world outside, not just the raw values.

Reflection (Weekly and Labs)

This week we did the lab on servo motors. For this project I’m beginning to think about this as a new kind of output that I can leverage in addition to light, sound, etc. With the weather stone project, I wonder if this could be something that moves a plant closer or further away from the window sill based on sunlight.

Liner Notes

• weather sensor not
• weatherband