Boring rice cooker becomes uruchimai powerhouse

Rice cookers are staple appliances in about half of the world and basic models are very affordable. But those are simple machines that are about as “dumb” as electric kettles. The result is often rice that has been sitting in the warming stage for too long, making the bottom crusty — and not in a delicious Persian tahdig kind of way. To ensure that he always consumes his rice at the optimal time, ChromaLock upgraded a rice cooker with smart notifications.

ChromaLock’s rice cooker is a bottom-shelf model from Aroma and it has exactly one control: the start button. While it cooks, the “cook” light is on. When it finishes cooking and enters warming mode, the “warm” light comes on. If ChromaLock isn’t keeping an eye on it, the rice cooker can finish cooking without him noticing. His upgrade monitors the rice cooker’s state and then notifies him when the cooking phase concludes.

It does so using an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board, which ChromaLock chose because its built-in Wi-Fi adapter lets it communicate with a server. The original plan was to monitor the rice cooker’s state by checking its electric current draw, but ChromaLock then switched to a simpler solution. Using two LDRs, the Arduino can monitor the state of the “cook” and “warm” lights. It displays the state on a website hosted by the connected service. It also shows the status on a mini traffic signal by controlling its lights through relays. Finally, an oversized vibration motor shakes ChromaLock’s entire desk when the rice is done.

Yes, ChromaLock could have spent a bit more money to buy a smart rice cooker with notification features of its own, but where is the fun in that?

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