Alarm Sundial

The Alarm Sundial by Engineering+Art undergraduate Caroline Hermans is a fully functional sundial alarm clock that uses the shadow of the sun to trigger a moveable alarm. The project is a mash-up of the modern alarm clock with the ancient art of timekeeping. While the alarm clock is a byproduct of the highly scheduled lifestyle, the sundial is a reminder of how far timekeeping has come.

The device consists of a light sensor, which is hooked up to an Arduino inside the box. When the shadow of the sundial crosses the light sensor, it sets off the alarm. This way, the position of the sensor radially around the sundial controls the time of the alarm. When the shadow crosses the sensor, the alarm is set off.

The Alarm Sundial was made possible with the support of Microgrant #2018-036 from the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier.