Thing Finder
THING FINDER
SUMMARY
This project is aimed to build a tag for making “Finding Things Easier” and being able to locate misplaced things easily , so this device would enable to find our thing by triggering the buzzer over google assistant or local server and it even gives probability region of the thing making our task easier to find that thing. This would be very helpful for old aged people and people suffering from alzheimer to find their important things which are misplaced just by using the phone to ring the tag and find the thing just like we find our misplaced phone by giving missed call.
The principle working of the project is to create a tag that can be used to find our thing with or without internet by triggering the buzzer via Google Assistant or Local Network along with finding probability of the thing based on its distance using WiFi signal strength so that we can find out that it might be lying in which room and it’s distance from our phone showing probability ie when distance of tag from our phone or rooms WiFi hotspot increases then signal strength decreases so does the finding probability decreases .
HARDWARE REQUIRED
ESP32(ESP8266 can be used)
MKR WIFI 1010
BUZZER
SOFTWARE REQUIRED
Arduino IDE
Blynk
IFTTT
SCHEMATIC
There is only two connection that of the buzzer
Buzzer leg 1 – GPIO 26
Buzzer leg 2 – GND
WORKING
This project is made to make finding things easier, it has the esp32 as the tag which has buzzer connected and whenever we have misplaced our thing and we have to find it we can easily find it out by triggering it via google assistant(any voice assistant) or local network , ringing the buzzer would help us to locate the thing by hearing the sound and to make it easier i added feature of probability region which would tell us about the probability of finding the thing in that region(ie room) and even our phone would give the probability region so we can easily navigate to region near the lost thing . This has the esp32 which connects to the internet if available and can be triggered over google assistant via IFTTT on Blynk cloud and if the internet is not available esp32 creates an access point to which we need to connect and then we can easily trigger it from local ip address( which is 192.168.4.1), the probability region of the device is measured by measuring the signal strength of the nodes and thus giving a probability region for finding our things and this is displayed on Blynk when internet is available and on local server when internet is not available .The phone itself also acts as a WiFi node ,ie when you have created hotspot from phone and then you are viewing probablity in the website/app and while searching for your thing if you move towards Thing Finder tag then WiFi signal strength of your hotspot for tag will increase and thus finding probablity would increase and if you go away the finding probablity would decrease so by this you will be able to navigate towards your Thing and locate it without seeing it and when you would go near you could hear sound of buzzer when triggered and find it.
VIDEO DEMO
Code for ESP32
- /*
- CODE Made by Aabhas Senapati
- If you want the code for esp32 mail me personally on [email protected] as i can not reveal the code pulically for some reasons
- */
Code for MKR WIFI 1010
- #include <SPI.h>
- #include <WiFiNINA.h>
- #include “arduino_secrets.h”
- ///////please enter your sensitive data in the Secret tab/arduino_secrets.h
- char ssid[] = SECRET_SSID; // your network SSID (name)
- char pass[] = SECRET_PASS; // your network password (use for WPA, or use as key for WEP)
- int keyIndex = 0; // your network key Index number (needed only for WEP)
- int led = LED_BUILTIN;
- int status = WL_IDLE_STATUS;
- WiFiServer server(80);
- void setup() {
- //Initialize serial and wait for port to open:
- Serial.begin(9600);
- Serial.println(“Access Point Web Server”);
- pinMode(led, OUTPUT); // set the LED pin mode
- // check for the WiFi module:
- if (WiFi.status() == WL_NO_MODULE) {
- Serial.println(“Communication with WiFi module failed!”);
- // don’t continue
- while (true);
- }
- String fv = WiFi.firmwareVersion();
- if (fv < “1.0.0”) {
- Serial.println(“Please upgrade the firmware”);
- }
- // by default the local IP address of will be 192.168.4.1
- // you can override it with the following:
- // WiFi.config(IPAddress(10, 0, 0, 1));
- // print the network name (SSID);
- Serial.print(“Creating access point named: “);
- Serial.println(ssid);
- // Create open network. Change this line if you want to create an WEP network:
- status = WiFi.beginAP(ssid, pass);
- if (status != WL_AP_LISTENING) {
- Serial.println(“Creating access point failed”);
- // don’t continue
- while (true);
- }
- // wait 10 seconds for connection:
- delay(10000);
- // start the web server on port 80
- server.begin();
- // you’re connected now, so print out the status
- }
- void loop() {
- }
CONCLUSION AND FINAL PRODUCT
I actually learnt a lot while making this project and I have made this using esp32 but would like to use an esp8266 to make this into a tag as the size now is a bit more and the buzzer is already very small as I got it from a mobile. This project is also made very cost-effective so that it can be applied to many things and the nodes would still remain the same so it would be very cost effective. This project uses wifi for giving probability region which a very good way earlier i thought of using rf but i damaged it then I had to think of this alternative and it turned out to be better as rf was expensive and it did not give signal strength. Excluding the form factor, the project is completely ready to be used in day to day lives and be useful for old aged people and people suffering from Alzheimer’s to find their things at their fingertips.
ANY SUGGESTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS ARE WELCOMED BELOW IN COMMENTS
IMAGES
About Me – I am a young maker from Ahmedabad in India and i love tinkering with new things and making new projects .I am also community member of element14 community and hackster .
Links to profile are
I also love Maths and Physics along with Robotics and Playing .
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My other projects include
-
Home Automation with Emergency Guidance
-
Plant watering and Monitoring System
-
Thing Finder
-
Smart Cycle with Helmet Locking
-
Industry Monitoring
The blog to these projects would be uploaded soon.
One Response
Great Idea