This is not your average infinity mirror clock. Designed and handcrafted with people in mind, this ambient-sensitive clock not only dims when you sleep at night, but also react to you when you stand in front of it. As a member of IoT family, you can also change its color or let it play visual tricks in any browsers.


Motivation

The pure comes from a single mind. Like how Japanese barbers do — they welcome you, wash your hair, sit you down, ask for your opinion, sculpt your hair, dry it out, cup your card, say "have a good one" and sweep the place for the next person — they harness every step by themselves.

I'm not saying that teamwork or critique isn't important; I believe in a higher state of flow could only be achieved if you know every step since there's no cost of communication and nothing will get lost, especially the direction and meaning behind the thing.

So, I wanted to make something for myself, by myself.

A job is always a fragment. Vocation is whole.

— Robert Bringhurst

Goals

At the beginning of this personal creative process, I wanted to answer two design questions and explore three technical areas:

  • How can I embed as much as humanism in my design

  • How can I make technology unobtrusive, or even artistic

  • How to control Arduino in the browser on my iPhone

  • How to get real time on Arduino

  • Physical data visualization

Ideation

After weeks of brainstorming, I liked the idea that to make an infinity clock by using a round LED light and two-way mirrors. The clock shows real time in normal mode. Once it detects someone standing in front of it, it will show some visual effect to greet them. The clock will also adjust its brightness based on the environment — if it turns dark outside, it will dim all the LEDs slowly. So, people can sleep well at night without light pollution in the room but still can tell the time.

To make the technology more unobtrusive, I hid a light sensor underneath a piece of mahogany veneer facing, so it's hard for people to notice it. The ultrasonic distance sensor was also hidden in the center of the mirror, so it looks like a decoration rather than a piece of technology.

The following list shows main physical parts that I used:

  • 1 × Arduino Yún

  • 4 × NeoPixel 1/4 60 Ring

  • 1 × DS1307 Real Time Clock breakout board kit

  • 1 × GA1A12S202 Log-scale Analog Light Sensor

  • 1 × Ultrasonic distance sensor

  • 1 × portable charger

  • 1 × mini breadboard

Bring it to life

Arduino code:

Front-end code: