State Machine Tea Brewer with Blynk

Assignment 8 – State Machine Tea Brewer with Blynk

Submit on Blackboard

Goals

  • Create and navigate state machines
  • Connect speaker and play tones
  • Build Blynk app to control interface

Overview

This assignment is to create a device that simulates brewing tea using state machines and a Blynk interface. The state machine machine logic will control how the device moves through the tea brewing states, and feedback and control will be available through the Blynk app. When brewing is finished, a song will optionally play on the Argon through a speaker.

Here is a video overview: https://youtu.be/lqQhFIVWDR0

Device

Photo Oct 04, 1 40 32 PM

Note: The red button in the photo was used for testing only. You don’t need to include it or use it in your project

Blynk App

Photo Oct 04, 2 26 19 PMPhoto Oct 04, 2 27 12 PM

Components

  • Argon
  • Breadboard
  • 1 x speaker
  • 1 x magnetic switch

State Machine Logic

There are 5 states in the brewing process. Note that we will use seconds in places of minutes

  1. Idle: nothing is happening until Start button on Blynk app is pressed to start brewing
  2. Heat: water is heating up (takes 6 seconds)
  3. Steep: tea is submerged in water (takes 3 seconds)
  4. Hold: intermediate stage between Steep and Pour. Allows device to make sure magnetic switch is closed. If switch is open, device stays in Hold
  5. Pour: liquid pours into cup (takes 4 seconds)

State Transition Table

State Duration Input Next State
Idle indefinite Brew_Active == true Heat
Heat 6 sec Brew_Active == false Idle
Heat 6 sec (Brew_Active == true) and (Heat_Time >= Goal_Heat_Time) Steep
Steep 3 sec Brew_Active == false Idle
Steep 3 sec (Brew_Active == true) and (Brew_Time >= Goal_Brew_Time) Hold
Hold indefinite Brew_Active == false Idle
Hold indefinite ((Brew_Active == true) and (Cup_Present == false) Hold
Hold indefinite (Brew_Active == true) and (Cup_Present == true) Pour
Pour 4 sec Brew_Active == false Idle
Pour 4 sec (Brew_Active == true) and (Pour_Time >= Goal_Pour_Time) Idle

Notes

  • Brew_Active is based on the Blynk Start button
  • Cup_Present is based on the magnetic switch

App Functionality

image-20211004143615494

Cup Status

  • Displays if the magnetic switch status

    • Switch closed means cup is present and brewing can continue
    • Switch open means cup is missing and pouring should not proceed

image-20211004143801260

State status

  • Displays name of current brew state

image-20211004152726757image-20211004152738126

Sound start / stop button

  • Pressing on will enable a song to play at the end of the Pour state
  • Pressing off will disable song
  • This should be configured as a switch in the Blynk app

image-20211004144101486

Brewing start / stop button

  • Pressing start will start the brewing process. When brewing process is complete, button will switch to inactive
  • Pressing button during brew process will automatically stop brewing
  • This should be configured as a switch in the Blynk app

Blynk Datastreams

Name Pin Type Values Data FROM Data TO
String Cup Status V2 String Present, Missing argon app
Button Start Brew V3 integer 0, 1 app argon
String State V4 String Idle, Heat, Steep, Hold, Pour argon app
Button Sound V5 integer 0, 1 app argon

Requirements

  • Create a Fritzing breadboard prototype of your design. No sample is provided so it is up to you to layout the components
  • Once you are are finished, build the device
  • It is recommended to code the device in stages, and test at each stage

Stage 1: Create State Machine States and Transition Logic

  • Create an enum to represent the 5 states
  • Create updateNextState() function with conditional logic to transition to different states. Transitions will be based on a combination of
    • current brew state (Idle, Heat, Steep, Hold, Pour)
    • time in current brew state
    • whether or not the brew process is active or not
    • magnetic switch state
  • Within updateNextState() set the appropriate duration for the next state every time a transition is about to happen

Testing Stage 1

  • Using Serial print statements, test that device progresses through all states with no timers. Don’t worry about Blynk interface yet–manually set brewing process to be active
  • Then test if device can progress through states with correct timing
  • Finally test magnetic switch to make sure that device stays in Hold stage if cup is missing

Stage 2: Connect Blynk, Set Up Datastreams, and Design Blynk App

  • Install the blynk library in your code

  • Create a Blynk project and set up the required datastreams based on the table above

  • Connect your code to the Blynk template

  • Using the guide above, create the appropriate app elements to allow for user interaction

  • Connect each screen element to the appropriate datastream

Testing Stage 2

  • Flash your project, and open the Blynk app. Make sure that the blank template opens

Stage 3: Enable communication between Blynk app and Argon

  • There are two app elements that send information from the app to the argon
    • Button Start Brew
    • Button Sound
  • Write the code that receives the infomation from the app and updates your code variables as necessary

Testing stage 3

  • Use Serial print statements to make sure that values are being updated properly
  • Make sure that your device stays idle until start button is pressed. Once it is pressed, device should move through each state. If button is pressed while brewing is happening, brewing should stop and device should return to Idle

Stage 4: Enable communication between Argon and app

  • There are two app elements that receive information from the app
    • String State
    • String Cup Status
  • Write the code that the sends the appropriate infomation to the app
  • Remember that all updates FROM argon TO app should take place in the loop() function inside a millis() block

Testing Stage 4

  • Make sure that state label changes as device moves through states
  • Make sure that cup status updates as magnetic switch is opened and closed

Stage 5: Play Song

  • Create a melody that will play when the Pour state finishes. Melody should at least 16 notes. You can use the list of musical notes and frequencies (or do something different).
  • Recommendation: Store melody notes in a array such as int melodyNotes[16] and note durations in array such as int melodyNotesDuration[16]. Note that 16 is just an example number of notes. You have have more notes in your song

Testing Stage 5

  • Make sure that when Pour state finishes, your melody plays
  • Make sure that Blynk app button enables / disables a variable that allows song to play or not

**Naming convention **

(replace # with the current assignment number)

  • Project Name: itp348_a#_lastname_firstname

  • Zip File (project folder): itp348_a#_lastname_firstname.zip

Video Submission Checklist

To receive credit, your submitted video must clearly demonstrate the following:

  • Pressing Start button on Blynk app (and it functions properly)
  • States transitioning
  • Pressing Sound on / off button* on Blynk app (and it functions properly)
  • Sound of melody playing

Deliverables

Submit on Blackboard

  1. Fritzing layout file

  2. A compressed file containing your project. Follow the guidelines for full credit.

    Here are the instructions for submission

    • Navigate to your project folder.

    • Include the entire folder in a zip file

    • Rename the zip file based on naming convention

    • Upload zip file to Blackboard site for our course

  3. A photograph of your device connected to USB with the blue light on.
  4. ==A screenshot of your custom Blynk app==
  5. ==A screenshot of your custom datastream table from website==
  6. A video demonstrating your project functioning (either upload this to separate from the zip file, or upload to YouTube / Google Drive / Dropbox and provide the link in your submission).

Grading

Item Points
Fritzing layout 5
Stage 1: Create State Machine States and Transition Logic 30
enum models 5
State transition logic / correct state changes 10
State duration logic / correct state durations 10
Magnetic switch holds the brewing state change 5
Stage 2: Connect Blynk, Set Up Datastreams, and Design Blynk App 4
Datastreams correct configured 2
Blynk user interface app elements 2
Stage 3: Enable communication between Blynk app and Argon 6
Button Start Brew starts and stops brewing process 2
Button Sound enables / disables sound playing 2
Stage 4: Enable communication between Argon and app 6
String State changes with correct state 2
String Cup Status updates 2
Stage 5: Play Song 4
Song melody and duration is stored correctly and at least 16 notes 2
Song plays at end of Pour state 2
   
Total 51

Recommendation #1: Music Notes as Constants

  • You can play all tones directly as frequencies for this assignment
  • However, it can be helpful to create melodies with musical notes instead of frequencies.
  • The following code file lists the musical notes as frequencies: pitches.h
  • Download pitches.h to the src folder for your project.
  • In your main .ino sketch, you can then include this file and use the constants to play musical notes.
  • Example
#include "pitches.h"

// example
tone(D6, NOTE_D4, 500);	//play the D note above middle C

Recommendation #2: Blynk Starting Template Code

  • You can adapt the Blynk code we used in class, or you can start with this empty Blynk template. Make sure to install the blynk library
  • blynk_start_template.cpp

Extra Credit Idea #1: Tea Selector

  • For extra credit, you will add the ability for the user to choose different types of tea. When the user changes a slider on the Blynk, it will change the length of the Steep stage

State Transition Table

State Tea Type Length in Steep State
Steep Green 2 seconds
Steep Black 3 seconds
Steep Herbal 4 seconds

Blynk App

Photo Oct 04, 2 26 19 PM

Tea Type Selector and Tea Display

  • When slider is moved,
    • Tea selection moves from 0, 1, or 2
    • Status should be updated with name of tea

Photo Oct 04, 2 27 24 PM

  • To set this up, add two new app elements: value display and gauge

image-20211004143905830

  • Add two new datastreams
Name Pin Type Values Data FROM Data TO
Slider Tea Type V0 integer 0 for black tea, 1 for green tea, 2 for herbal tea app argon
Text Tea Type V1 String Black, Green, Herbal argon app

Extra Credit Idea #2: Time Remaining

  • For extra credit, you can add a countdown timer that shows the remaining time in each stage

Photo Oct 04, 2 27 24 PM

  • To set this up, add two new app elements: value display and gauge

image-20211004162909183

  • Add one new datastream
Name Pin Type Values Data FROM Data TO
Time Remaining V6 integer 0 as min, 7 as max argon app
  • In your code, track the time remaining and send to app

Updated: