{"id":658,"date":"2026-03-25T07:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hh3dlab.fi\/blog\/?p=658"},"modified":"2026-03-25T07:39:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:39:41","slug":"the-weatherslayeaer-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hh3dlab.fi\/blog\/3d-robo-lab\/the-weatherslayeaer-project\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weatherslayeaer project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h1>\n

We are a team of three second\u2011year students from different areas of digital and technical studies, each bringing our own strengths into this 3D and Robotics course.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hey there! I\u2019m Saana<\/strong>, and I\u2019m currently in my second year of studying digital services. When I started the IoT course, I didn\u2019t have any experience with IoT projects or robotics, but I had taken a 3D course and learned how to model with Blender.<\/p>\n

Coding isn\u2019t exactly my strongest skill, but problem\u2011solving definitely is. And with AI developing so rapidly, even those of us who aren\u2019t hardcore coders get a bit more insight into that side of things. I joined the course because I want to understand this part of digital services too and after all learning something new is never a bad thing<\/p>\n

Hi! I\u2019m Ronja <\/strong>and I\u2019m in my second year of studying business ICT, more specifically data analytics. Before the IoT course i had a bit of experience with blender for 3D design and some simple robotics projects from upper secondary school. While studying in Haaga-Helia I have learned several coding languages. For example I\u2019ve learned SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and I\u2019m also learning Python right now.<\/p>\n

I joined the course because I wanted to get to try something new and creating something physical sounded very fun.<\/p>\n

Dearest gentle reader! My name is Siiri<\/strong> and I\u2019m a second year studying information technology. More specifically in digital services and service design. I didn\u2019t have much experience with robotics before this course but coding I had done before.<\/p>\n

I joined this course because it seemed really interesting to get to build something from scratch and get to expand my skills in this field.<\/p>\n

Ideas<\/h1>\n

We began our project ideation on a shared whiteboard where we wrote down every idea that came to mind. After that, we voted for the ones we thought were the strongest, and based on the points, four ideas moved forward for further consideration.<\/p>\n

In the end, we chose a weather\u2011displaying LED screen that fetches weather data from the internet and shows it on the display. We also thought it could give small tips related to the day\u2019s weather, such as \u201cdon\u2019t forget your sunglasses\u201d or \u201cremember your umbrella.\u201d<\/p>\n

We selected this idea because we felt it would be a solid foundation to build additional features on once we get the core functionality working. We continued innovating around this concept on the whiteboard using the lotus blossom method.<\/p>\n

Our top 4 ideas were:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Weather board<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Decibel disco ball<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Compass that shows the nearest ALKO<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Alcolmeter that keeps a leaderboard on a website<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Development ideas for our project<\/h2>\n

    In addition to the LED display, we also discussed what other features we could add to our project. We want the LED screen to have some kind of frame or stand so it can be mounted on a wall. We considered adding extra LED lights that would visually indicate the weather at a glance.<\/p>\n

    One idea we explored was using a Bluetooth speaker to play weather\u2011themed sounds or music. We also thought about integrating a personal calendar into the device so the LED display could show reminders, such as upcoming meetings or birthdays. This could even be paired with Bluetooth audio \u2014 for example, playing a short birthday tune.<\/p>\n

    We also realized that a motion sensor would be useful. It could wake up the device or LED display when a user approaches, so it wouldn\u2019t stay active all the time.<\/p>\n

    What did you need to learn<\/h1>\n

    When we started this project, we honestly didn\u2019t know exactly how all the pieces would fit together. We just knew we wanted to build something cool and a weatherboard that could grab real data from the internet, light up with animations, and look good on the wall. To make that happen, we had to learn quite a few new things.<\/p>\n

    First<\/strong>, we had to figure out how to get the ESP32 talking to the LED display. Getting the first text to appear on the screen felt like a small victory, because it meant the hardware was actually listening to us. Once that worked, we moved on to the next challenge which was pulling weather data from the internet. None of us had used the OpenWeather API before, so we had to learn how APIs work, how to send requests, and how to read JSON data in a way the ESP32 could understand.<\/p>\n

    Then came the LED strip. NeoPixels look simple, but they\u2019re surprisingly picky and every LED needs its own color values, timing matters, and animations don\u2019t just magically happen. We learned how to create smooth gradients, temperature\u2011based color themes, and a moving wave effect that makes the whole frame feel alive.<\/p>\n

    On top of that, we had to learn how to design and 3D\u2011print the physical parts. That meant measuring components, modeling the frame so it actually fit around the electronics, and printing a nameplate that made the whole thing feel like a finished product.<\/p>\n

    In short, we had to learn how to:<\/strong><\/p>\n