ESP32 temperature sensing and control
Two boards, a web interface and two prototypes tested against tasks
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Two ESP32 boards wired on a bench with an LED strip showing the temperature state
- Context
- Physical Computing, DTU
- Year
- 2022
- Role
- Software and sensor setup
- Team size
- 2
- Tools
- ESP32 · State machines · Web interface · LED strip
- Contribution
- Team of 2, built the WiFi app and sensor setup
Two ESP32 boards talking to each other, with a heat sensor on one, a website for control and monitoring, and an LED strip showing the temperature by colour.
What it does
A heat sensor feeds the first board, which communicates with a second board, and a website lets you control it and change its state. An LED strip switches LEDs according to the temperature so you can read it without looking at the site. We worked through storyboards, state machines and flowcharts for both prototypes before wiring anything up.
How we tested it
We tested with users using tasks rather than scenarios. Scenarios are usually recommended, but the prototype was still far from something that would be useful in an everyday situation, so a scenario would not have been an honest test. The tasks were to check the temperature on the website, turn on the traffic light, and see how long the website had been running. After that we ran semi structured interviews asking what was most difficult about using the prototype and what they would change.