My honours project at RMIT explored the use of calm technology in the home to inform people of their energy consumption. Data is gathered from a device attached to the electricity meter of a home, and is sent to an interaction device (Eddy).
By gathering context such as room temp, light level and motion detection, eddy will change colour and begin to move, depending on the amount of excess energy is being used.
The device was a concept and prototype developed over the course of a year under the supervision of Stuart McFarlane. Data about household interactions with energy were gathered and analysed, which in turn drove the project interaction direction. It was found light and temperature have the most influence over perception of energy consumption, and Eddy Current was designed to use visual queues to inform a person of their consumption.
