In a world where we are constantly searching for the perfect sleep environment, one Bengaluru based Indian inventor has taken matters into his own hands—quite literally. Pankaj recently took the social media by storm when he shared his latest DIY project with the internet.
Pankaj’s innovation? An AI roommate designed to maintain the perfect sleeping environment in his room by monitoring his posture. The project, which has garnered significant attention across social media, addresses a problem many of us face: waking up in the middle of the night to adjust our fan settings.
The 3 AM solution
Talking about his motivation behind the project on Linkedin, Pankaj expressed that he was tired of the “3 am dance”—waking up to manually toggle the fan because the room had become too hot or too cold.
Instead of buying an expensive smart thermostat, he decided to build a custom solution ‘AI roommate’ using artificial intelligence and computer vision.
“I taught my AI roommate to automatically control the fan by watching me sleep,” Pankaj shared in his post. The system uses a wall-mounted camera to monitor his body posture in real-time, translating physical cues into commands for the room’s cooling system.
How the ‘AI Roommate’ Works
The logic behind the automation is as intuitive as it is clever. The AI is programmed to recognize specific sleeping positions that indicate physical discomfort caused by the room temperature. Once it detects the problem, it solves the sleeping issue by increasing or decreasing the speed of the fan.
If the camera detects arms or legs sticking out from under the blanket, the AI interprets this as the user being too hot and triggers the fan to turn on. Conversely, if the user is seen curled up or tucked tightly under the covers, the system recognizes they are cold and switches the fan off.
Building a 24/7 Observer
According to the engineer, his project is not anything like a simple motion sensor. Pankaj describes the project as a full-time “AI Roommate” that watches 24/7, notices patterns, and even “checks in” when things are too quiet.
While the idea of a camera in the bedroom might raise privacy eyebrows for some, the tech community has largely lauded the project for its innovative use of pose estimation to solve a common problem
In the screenshots shared by the creator, the AI can be seen drawing a digital skeleton over his sleeping form, calculating a “ratio” that determines whether the fan status should be “ON” or “OFF.”
The project has struck a chord with netizens, with many calling it the “ultimate bachelor hack.” Reacting to the viral success, Pankaj posted, “OMG. The Internet went absolutely wild on my last project.”