A stroopwafel is a scrumptious “syrup waffle” that’s fashionable within the Netherlands and sometimes served with scorching drinks like espresso and tea. It’s a layered morsel with two skinny, crispy waffles surrounding a filling produced from syrup, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. They’re served at room temperature, however are generally positioned atop the accompanying beverage with a view to warmth and soften the deal with. However as a foreigner in that land, Eamon Magd lacked the expertise to convey his stoopwafel to the proper temperature and consistency. So, he constructed this gadget to determine it out.
A Dutch particular person may depart their stroopwafel atop their beverage for a particular period of time or they could observe the droopiness of the pastry because it warms and softens. Eamon wished an goal and infallible machine to carry out the identical form of evaluation, since instinct was failing him.
Timing one thing is simple, however a stopwatch alone would fail to account for variables like beverage kind, beverage temperature, beverage quantity, mug diameter, ambient air temperature, stroopwafel recipe, and extra. Eamon wanted knowledge and an important variable was clearly temperature—particularly, the temperature on the floor of the stroopwafel. His gadget collects that with a temperature sensor linked to a knockoff Arduino Uno Rev3 growth board.
Stroopwafel floor temperature and time are fairly useful knowledge factors, however Eamon went one step additional and harnessed laptop imaginative and prescient to recreate a Dutch particular person’s skilled eye. He programmed a pc imaginative and prescient utility that runs on his laptop computer and watches the stroopwafel by way of the webcam. It seems for motion, as indicated by blurry pixels. Eamon theorized that motion would solely happen when the stroopwafel warmed sufficient to start out drooping.
With some knowledge collected over the course of many stroopwafel experiments, Eamon was in a position to practice a linear regression mannequin to acknowledge the perfect situations to start consumption. When that second happens, the Arduino sounds an alarm by way of a passive buzzer. Now Eamon can benefit from the good stroopwafel every time he visits a restaurant, assuming that he remembers to convey his laptop computer, the Arduino, and the sensors together with him.