People have a hard time connecting to plants, trees and most nature because they don't have the same level of consciousness and life as humans do. That lack of connection causes people to treat them as if they are unimportant. But, in reality, plants and trees are one of the most important parts of sustaining life on earth and are crucial to the survival of humans. 

In an effort to help raise awarness for this problem and help people feel another demention of connection with nature, we (Graeme, Weliton, and Matt) created a device that, when someone hugs it, it plays a certain bird call which attracts that bird to the tree. This creates a cooperative connection between a person and nature and it creates a natural and interactive environment that makes it easier for people to have a connection with nature. 

Using a pressure sensor to detect if someone is hugging the tree or not, a red LED that acts as the heart of the tree, a buzzer (or speaker) that plays bird noises, an arduino board and arduino programming skills, we were able to make device that gives trees and nature another dimention of life. We also used Rhino, a CAD software, and a laser cutter, to build the physical model.

Our first idea was to work with flowers and create a flower lie object that would have different levels of pedals according to sizes and as you spun each level, different tones would play and there would be LED's attached to the pedals. Our overall theme was interracting with nature.

We then moved on to one final idea. Interacting with trees. We were going to design something that would go around a tree and would be attached to a speaker that would hang in the branches. Once someone hugged the tree, it would trigger a pressure sensor and the speaker would play a bird call.

Arduino/Code- Our first iteration of our project was out of cardboard. We focused mainly on the arduino and the code. Once we got the pressure sensor down, we used tape to hold it down around the tree (as seen in the picture)

Second Iteration- We were skeptical about which material to use so it would wrap the tree nicely. We first tested felt and spandex material. The spandex material is stretchy so it would be on the outside so we could fit the arduino in between the spandex and the felt. Although felt is perfect for wrapping around trees, it was not enough th trigger the pressure sensor and we wanted to make something that would be comfortable hugging.

Third Iteration (Final)- For our final iteration, we thought inserting cardboard inside the band would make it more comfortable and it would allow enough space in the middle to fit the arduino board without it having to stand out. Also, to make the led light stand out, we decided to use a rice bag material. It is light, durable, and somewhat see through. Also, we constructed a cone shaped box to fit the speaker and to better project the bird calls.

Arduino Iteration 1:

This iteration of the arduino had an a pressure sensor and a buzzer. The pressure sensor would pick up the amount of pressure you applied to it and relay that signal to the buzzer which would play a corrosponding tone.

Arduino Itertion 2:

We switched from an arduino uno to an arduino nano which can attach directly to the breadboard. I also added an LED that would pulse red when you weren't hugging it. I worked on that seperatly from the main arduino. Then I started working on finding a specific tone pattern that sounded like birds. I also did this seperatley from the main version.

Arduino Iteration 3:

I connected all of the components to the main arduino and programmed them to syncronize with the pressure sensor. The final thing that needed to be done was to find a way to amplify the sound of the bird noise. So, I found an electronic transistor that I connected to the arduino board which amplified the sound.