Unusual Switch: Break Reminder Book Switch

My Concept

For a while, I couldn’t come up with a creative idea. As I sat at my desk, I looked over at my surroundings and saw some books piled up from hours of studying, realizing I could use them as a switch.

A “Break Reminder Switch” activates when I close my books, triggering LED light to remind me to take a well-deserved break. And if you’re too tired, you can also use your head to activate the switch by resting it on top of the books.

Watch the video here

When thinking about the idea of my switch, it reminded me of a Pomodoro Studying Technique. I could improve this project by adding a timer that lets users take breaks for a set amount of time, like 5 minutes, before an alarm reminds them to get back to studying. This way, they can study for as long as they like and use the switch to manage their own breaks without losing track of time.

Set-up

I attached jumper wires to the covers of two books — one connected to GND, the other to a digital pin on the Arduino. When the books close, the wires touch and make the LED light up.

Book Switch Model
This set-up + 2 wires on Arduino Board that light up LED once connected

Initially, the wires didn’t always make good contact, so I adjusted the wire positions by twisting and aligning them at the center and opposite to each other to ensure they touch properly and trigger the switch.

Coding


int switchPin = 10;    
int ledPin = 6;        

void setup() {
  pinMode(switchPin, INPUT_PULLUP);  
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  if (digitalRead(switchPin) == LOW) { 
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);      
  } else {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);          
  }
}

Reflections

At first, I struggled for hours trying to get the external LED to light up. The issue was that I didn’t plug the short leg of the LED into the negative rail on the breadboard — this made only the internal LED light up. Then, it was the way I set up my project that kept causing problems.

I also learned that wire contact must be firm, so I tried different taping angles and even thought about using multiple wires for a better chance of contact.

Through all the trial and error, I realized how small details can cause big issues and that paying attention to them can save hours of frustration. Most importantly, I learned that good ideas often come from your surroundings, even something as simple as a stack of books.

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