Gadget Master

We've all been there. You wake in the middle of the night, it's still dark, but you are not sure how many precious hours you have before work (or minutes, even, in the winter).  

For some (not me) a clock will be clearly visible, but Gadget Master Nirav Patel needs glasses and the world can seem blurry without them....

Yes, he could stretch to put on his glasses and then clock the time (waking himself up in the process) or he could - as an ingenious inventor - create a device for displaying on the ceiling how much time remains for sleep, using a Lego-housed Arduino-based laser device.

(For more Arduino-based laser shows, see also - Build your own laser harp)

Thanks to the great Make for this one, and highlighting Nirav Patel's work.

If you check out his blog you can read the details:

"My solution involves a line laser, a servo, and an Arduino. I set a potentiometer with a number dial to approximately the right length of time in hours and hit the reset button. The servo with the line laser attached will shine the laser line onto the ceiling. The servo will then slowly rotate, moving the laser line underneath a cover made of Lego pieces, making the length of line showing on the ceiling shrink over the hours. It's a little like an hourglass, but with lasers."

He also provides the source code for the Arduino.

Is the servo too loud to stop him sleeping? Apparently not. In reply to a comment, he writes: "I thought it might be, but it only moves a nudge once every 10-50 seconds or so. Even then, you can't hear it unless you're very close."