Colorscope

a smart real-life color-picker

Description

• Displays and logs RGB values and the closest color names for surfaces and objects.

• Helps with design and ideation by showing the complementary color(s) for picked color.

• Uses WiFi to look up the closest color name, making it great for collaboration and discussions between designers and visual artists.

• Logs data—RGB values, closest color names, and complements—onto a microSD card.

• Measures distances (up to 4m) with a Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor for space planning.

• Detects and displays sound levels (dB) to assist with audio setups.

• Is on a 4-layer PCB, along with a mechanical assembly and battery/charging circuitry

Learning Outcomes

1. Technical Skills & Knowledge

Circuit board (PCB) design, KiCAD

System integration product design

Processor and component selection

Embedded communication protocols (USB, SPI, I2C, UART, JTAG/SWD),

Development using a variety of microcontrollers (especially ATSAMD51J19A-AUT)

Prototyping using dev boards such as Feather M4

Sourcing electronic parts, creating a functional Bill of Materials (BOM)

Electronics fundamentals

Power tree management

SMD soldering

Debugging

Mechanics of linkages

2. General Project/Practical Skills

Systems Engineering: Hardware and software integration; full system design and bringup

Requirement Analysis: Defining product goals and creating a functional brief and requirements.

Documentation: Writing professional product reports and documenting development processes.

Demos

Picking colors (both RGB values and closest named colors) and measuring distances

Thanks to its distance measurement function, when the user gets Colorscope close enough to an object, Colorscope understands that the user is “picking” a color. It activates the LED and normalizes the color according to the known distance. Then, it displays (and logs) the RGB value and the closest color name (scraped from the html color table online).

Sound dB mapping

Colorscope uses a microphone and a custom preamp circuit to detect loudness.

Motivation

The project is of deep interest to me. In addition to wanting to further my engineering skills. I am interested in color theory and visual arts. As an RA, makerspace assistant, and an active member of student organizations (including theater tech and engineering), I design posters and light/sound venues. A handheld color picker can help in the ideation and design. Its sound dB level functionality can help with the audio setup of spaces. Also, I have partial synesthesia, so I think it would be exciting to extend this project to translate between sounds and colors.

Attachments

Technical Documents

EE256_ProjectReport_EgeTuran

EE256_UpdatedProductBrief_EgeTuran

EE256_ProductRequirements_EgeTuran

EE256_Board Bring-up and Test (DVT) Plan_EgeTuran