Automatic Cradle System with Alexa Controls
Adwait R, Anjusha Mathew, Govindan Nampoothiri V, Greeshma Susan Skariah
Computer Science and Engineering Department, Saintgits College of Engineering
dwravin@gmail.com
anjushamathew1996@gmail.com
unnineo@gmail.com
greeshma.skariah@gmail.com
Guide by,
Er. Divya Mohan
divya.mohan@saintgits.org
Abstract— A cradle is a cot, typically one mounted on rockers,
provided for the baby's comfort sleep with its oscillation set at a
particular soothing speed. The existing cradles’ doesn’t provide
an ambient sleeping environment for babies and also make them
feel a bit insecure. Todays parents are busy with their career and
they may not get the sufficient time to take care of their babies.
Also, it is expensive to afford a nanny. In hospitals too baby care
is a serious matter in concern. This paper gives a description
about an automatic cradle system which facilitates the parent
with a child soothing and monitoring system without much
physical attention of a parent. The automatic cradle is a user
friendly, low cost, automated and efficient mechanism for
providing care to the child in a nuclear family.
Keywords— Cradle, Amazon Alexa Echo Dot, Amazon
Developer Console, Amazon Skill Kit, Wet sensor, Arduino, RGB
LED light, Android phone, Microphone.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the present scenario, everyone is busy with their own
professional life. Today, the mothers are also working and
there is a requirement of an unattended cradle. The proposed
automatic cradle system is a new solution to this problem. In
the proposed design, there is a microphone placed in the
cradle to sense the crying voice of the child and takes
necessary actions based on the sound.
The system provides an aide to parents and nurses in
infants care. The main features of the system are as follows:
 The cradle starts swinging automatically when the
baby cries.
 An alert is passed to the parent’s phone if the baby is
crying for more than a stipulated time.
 An instant notification is send to the parent’s phone
when the mattress gets wet.
 The cradle can be made to swing just by giving voice
commands to an Alexa echo dot device.
 The music can be played using voice control.
 Also a soothing light ambience is set for the baby
using a RGB LED strip.
 Additionally, the baby can also be monitored online
and the swing action of cradle and light ambience
can be controlled by using an android app.
Before the use of cradle in society, baby caring was
completely done by the caretaker but caring the baby in a
nuclear family is getting very difficult. So there is always a
need for automation in the cradle system. The main concern
for the cradle is the safety of the child. Cost is also a great
concern to develop a cradle with a mechanism which is
automated. The family faces the problem of carrying the baby
to places and for that cradle must be portable. The
performance, effectiveness and efficiency of the cradle should
be high, so the need of electricity is reduced and the
probability of failure is completely removed.
There are a lot of limitations encountered in the use of
normal cradle. Conventional cradle has a lot of disadvantages
i.e. it isn’t user friendly, has less comfort, more time
consuming, and is less safe. The idea of automatic cradle will
overcome the above stated limitations. The design and
construction of an automatic cradle ensures proper care,
comfortable and safe sleep to the baby. The concept of the
design is such that it may be used without a necessary external
assistance or assistance from a care taker. The project is aimed
at designing and constructing an automatic cradle for rocking
an infant in a carriage with ease and in the most economical
way. The cradle has a wide range of application and is
expected to work with minimal technical challenges and
greater comfort. This project proves its great relevance in the
nuclear family of the modern world.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A baby cradle is a small cradle that is designed for providing
sound sleep for the child. They have progressed from having a
minor cult to a popular option for parents and careers that has
helped them to get a full night's rest while being confident that
their baby is sleeping safely and securely. The conventional
design for a baby cradle is such that it hangs from the ceiling
on a wooden pole and the cradle is made from natural
breathable fibres. A futon mattress is then inserted into the
cradle so that baby is completely comfortable while resting. A
cradle when used safely, provide a place to lay a child and
does not take up as much space.
Although they may appear similar at first glance, baby cradle
have been designed specifically for the babies. It is meant as a
place for baby to get some rest and a comfortable sleep and
slumber through till morning. Today, many home-care
systems are available but majority of this system are mainly
designed for the aged people and patients. These systems can
provide complete medical care and analysis for them..
However, this is not the case for infants. Children and adults
require different type of care as children are totally dependent
for their normal functions on someone else. Infants cannot
give any feedback about their discomfort or health complaints
but only through crying. Hence, a home-care system for
infants is needed to lighten parents’ especially mother’s
burden.
III. PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed system is more reliable. Proposed system
helps the parents and nurses in taking care of their baby while
not giving a physical attention. The cradle automatically
swings when the child cries. It has a cry analysing system for
detecting the infant cry voice and accordingly the cradle
swings till the baby stops crying. During the swing, music is
played and the lights are turned on. The system sends an alert
to the parent’s phone when the mattress is wet and when the
baby cries for more than a stipulated time. A camera is
positioned above the infant's cradle so that every motion of
the infant can be monitored by the parent. The swing of the
cradle and the music system could be controlled by the
parent’s phone.
The system also provides the ability to voice control the
cradle using Alexa. The parent could use voice commands to
swing the cradle, play music and to adjust the ambience of
light.
IV. BLOCK DIAGRAM
Figure 1.Block Diagram
V. ADVANTAGES OF PROPOSED SYSTEM
 Proper care for the child
 Easy to use
 Light weight
 Control of the cradle from anywhere
 Complete monitoring of the child
VI. CONCLUSION
The proposed system provides the complete care and security
for the baby. The system could be established in hospitals and
neonatal centres. The parents could now take care of their
babies without any physical attention. Thus the automatic
cradle system helps parents in their busy schedule by taking
care of their baby. The cradle affords a lot of area for further
improvements and modifications and can provide efficient
operations, which ultimately make it a commercially useful
and effective product.
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