Ideas to solve a weird smart shades problem

Hi, I have a somewhat weird issue and I’m hoping someone has an idea to solve it. I have Lutron shades in my living room that I automate to close every night when I go to bed. If I forget to close them or I’m not at home, there’s a backup automation that makes sure they close before sunrise because if they don’t, the sun bakes my living room through my terrible single pane windows. It also fades books and furniture.

The ledge/sill that the shades rest on is very wide and runs the entire length of the room, so I often put snacks and drinks on it while watching TV. Occasionally, I’ll leave a half-finished drink on the ledge and go to bed, which if I’m not careful, can result in the shades knocking the drink over when they come down.

My current workaround is to just never have the shades lower all the way in an automation, but that’s annoying me since most of the time there’s nothing on the ledge, and even leaving them partly open lets in a lot of heat. So I’m trying to think of a way for the shades to detect collision and stop lowering immediately, or to rig some kind of sensor that would know if something is on the ledge.

Any ideas?

https://www.google.com/search?q=ir+beam+sensor&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjMsN6fouX5AhXE5KQKHel8B_MQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=ir+beam+sensor&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECAAQEzIECAAQEzIICAAQHhAHEBMyCAgAEB4QCBATMggIABAeEAgQEzIICAAQHhAIEBM6BAgjECc6BggAEB4QBzoICAAQHhAIEAdQyxJYjBlgohxoAHAAeACAAYkBiAGYA5IBAzQuMZgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=lSIJY4ySJsTJkwXp-Z2YDw&bih=1047&biw=1920&client=firefox-b-d

A beam sensor makes sense! Is there a good guide anywhere for sensors that are known to work with home assistant? I assume this would be something of a DIY project using ESPHome or something similar? I haven’t messed with building my own sensors before but I’m down to try it.

some inspiration: How to connect IR beam sensors? - #6 by etude

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