Week 7 - Journal

This week’s task was to make a smart circuit that can be controlled and has more than one action output. I decided to make a smart desk lamp with a built-in timer and LCD screen. The idea is simple: you can set a task duration with a potentiometer, and the lamp helps you track your time by counting down.

I care about this idea because I personally struggle with keeping track of how long I spend on tasks, and I wanted something that’s both useful and practical on my desk. The inspiration mostly came from study lamps and productivity timers like the Pomodoro technique.

I first sketched out the logic of how I wanted the lamp to work: set a timer → start → countdown → alarm when done → option to reset early. Then I built the wiring diagram in KiCad and wrote the Arduino code to handle both the timer logic and the lamp control.

Circuit Documentation

• The project uses a potentiometer to set the duration (between 10–100 minutes). Once you press the start button, the countdown begins and is displayed on the LCD screen.

• The lamp relay can be toggled with a touch sensor, so the lamp can be turned on/off while the timer is running.

• When the timer finishes, the buzzer sounds for a few seconds and the LCD shows “Time’s up!”. If the user presses the done button before the timer ends, it resets and displays “Task Completed!”.

• Components Used:

  •  1 × Arduino UNO – main controller

  •  1 × LCD with I2C module – connected to SDA (A4) and SCL (A5)

  •  1 × Relay Module (to control lamp) – connected to Pin 5

  •  1 × Potentiometer (to set task duration) – connected to A0 input

  •  1 × Touch Sensor – connected to A1 input

  •  1 × Buzzer – connected to Pin 6

  •  2 × Push Buttons:

    1. •    Start Button → Pin 2

       •    Done/Reset Button → Pin 3

Simulation of the circuit: (testing out the relay using avo meter) 

I am so bad at doing cardboard, so I thought of making the base out of a plastic food container I had and used clue as well as sticks to make it stronger

We had