Project 02 — Monitor & Alert

Prompt

Watch [a] physical or digital source[s] and trigger a digital or physical alert. Your project must be physically durable.

Details

You will work in two-person groups to design, program and build a system that monitors some stream, signal, or state and alerts users when a specific threshold, event or change occurs.

The signal that you monitor can be physical or digital; you can watch a sensor or series of sensors in the physical world, or use an API to monitor events or signals on the web.

Likewise, the alerting component of your system can also be physical or digital; ringing a physical bell, popping a balloon, sending a series of text messages, emailing your local congressman… all fair game.

At least one of the two components must be physical. Robustness is a key part of this project; make your device droppable. Both the source and alert may be physical, if they communicate over a network.

This project continues to build your skills in rapid prototyping and basic electronics, and it exposes you to networked technologies such as APIs and web protocols.

Deliverables (Crit/Demo on 3/1)

  • A functioning system that completes the prompt
  • Documentation
    • A well-documented Git repo of all your code on GitHub
    • Photos of your process work (take these throughout)
    • Photos of your machine both stationary and in action
    • A step-by-step Instructables post walking a user through the process of building the system.
      • Only one post is necessary
      • Each team member must email a link to the post to Jake and John, accompanied by a brief explanation of their role in the project.

Examples

Nest Protect

Range Dial Thermometer

pplkpr by Lauren McCarthy and Kyle McDonald

The Deep Sweep by The Critical Engineering Working Group

Weather Service + IFTTT

blink(1)

Withings Aura