Have you ever walked into a room and just felt… out of place? You know, that nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right, but you can’t put your finger on it. Maybe your throat is a little scratchy or you feel inexplicably hot. Wouldn’t it be great to know exactly what’s causing that discomfort? Meet Gus 2.0, a charming desktop companion designed by Makestreme to keep an eye on the atmosphere in your room.
Don’t be fooled by his adorable façade; Gus 2.0 is more than just a pretty face. With his friendly robot look straight out of an animated movie, Gus 2.0’s “face” is actually a screen that uses expressive eyes to communicate the level of comfort in your room. Big, bright eyes mean everything is perfect. Droopy eyes? That’s Gus 2.0’s way of telling you that something is not right, be it the temperature, humidity or air quality. For accurate readings, simply touch Gus 2.0’s head.
What exactly does Gus 2.0 monitor? Makestreme focused on three key areas: temperature, humidity and air quality. While temperature and humidity are self-explanatory, “air quality” here refers to the detection of potentially harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, alcohol and formaldehyde.
Beneath the charming exterior lies an intelligent combination of technology. Makestreme relied on Seeed Studio components for Gus 2.0’s functionality. A Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C3 development board acts as its brain, while a Grove DHT22 sensor monitors temperature and humidity. Air quality and touch detection are also managed by Grove-compatible sensors. The easy-to-use Grove connectors simplified the wiring, although some soldering was still necessary to connect everything to the XIAO board.
The whole assembly is housed in a custom 3D-printed case. Designed in Autodesk Fusion 360, this was Makestreme’s first foray into creating a 3D-printable model. Despite a minor setback that required some post-print adjustments, the case turned out beautifully.
Finally, Makestreme brought Gus 2.0 to life with Arduino IDE programming. A key feature is the “comfort level” rating, a scale from 0 to 4 that drives the expressive eye animations. This clever feature allows Gus 2.0 to provide a quick and intuitive sense of room comfort.
