A stroopwafel is a scrumptious “syrup waffle” that’s fashionable within the Netherlands and infrequently served with sizzling drinks like espresso and tea. It’s a layered morsel with two skinny, crispy waffles surrounding a filling comprised of syrup, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. They’re served at room temperature, however are generally positioned atop the accompanying beverage so as to warmth and soften the deal with. However as a foreigner in that land, Eamon Magd lacked the expertise to deliver his stoopwafel to the right temperature and consistency. So, he constructed this machine to determine it out.
A Dutch particular person would possibly go away their stroopwafel atop their beverage for a selected period of time or they may observe the droopiness of the pastry because it warms and softens. Eamon needed an goal and infallible machine to carry out the identical type 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 a very powerful variable was clearly temperature—particularly, the temperature on the floor of the stroopwafel. His machine collects that with a temperature sensor related to a knockoff Arduino Uno Rev3 improvement 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 software that runs on his laptop computer and watches the stroopwafel by the webcam. It seems for motion, as indicated by blurry pixels. Eamon theorized that motion would solely happen when the stroopwafel warmed sufficient to begin drooping.
With some knowledge collected over the course of many stroopwafel experiments, Eamon was in a position to prepare a linear regression mannequin to acknowledge the best situations to start consumption. When that second happens, the Arduino sounds an alarm by a passive buzzer. Now Eamon can benefit from the good stroopwafel every time he visits a restaurant, assuming that he remembers to deliver his laptop computer, the Arduino, and the sensors together with him.