A rotating night light that makes bedtime easier for parents and children.
Overview
For my Product Engineering finals at Penn, my team and I set out to design a product that helps ease the nightly struggle for parents to put their children to bed.
The project combined hardware engineering, microcontroller programming, and physical prototyping, taking our team from sketches to a fully functional product.
Product Features
Piggus Nimbus was designed with both parents and children in mind. Every feature was intentionally crafted to create a soothing, engaging bedtime environment that children can interact with independently. With colorful buttons and a playful spaceship interface, we wanted it to look attractive for children to interact with.
The night lamp also features a removable dome, letting children personalize the experience by placing their favorite toys or pictures inside.
Process
My approach was iterative, where I built and tested each subsystem independently before integrating them into the final product. This systematic method helped me isolate issues and debug effectively.
I started by testing each component in isolation — buttons, LEDs, potentiometer, and motor. With the help of AI, I wrote separate test sketches for each to verify functionality before combining them. This approach proved critical later during integration debugging.
Once individual components worked, I began integrating them into a single codebase. This revealed issues with shared grounds, button logic, and power management that weren't apparent in isolation. I used Serial Monitor extensively to debug state changes in real time.
With the electronics working reliably, we assembled each component under the dome's base which my teammate 3D-printed and modeled on OnShape.
Challenges & Solutions
Unlike software bugs, hardware issues don't come with error messages. Each challenge required systematic isolation, testing, and often component substitution to resolve.
Outcomes & Reflection
Testing each component in isolation before integration was the single most important decision I made. When the combined system failed, I could confidently narrow the problem rather than questioning individual parts. I paired Serial Monitor debugging with Claude as a technical partner to interpret error behaviors, suggest wiring fixes, and walk through code logic step by step. This AI-assisted workflow turned hours of trial and error into focused, guided problem-solving.
Building with AI
