“Portable Environment Monitor” by Radu Matisan (2015)

This project allows its users to effectively detect temperature, pressure, dust, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and three kinds of harmful radiation (alpha, beta, gamma); it even makes use of the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module (could it be any more perfect?). The most interesting aspect of this device is how it would be viewed depending on the context it was used. Say, for example, it was used in the third world; first world philanthropists would be able to use data to demonstrate how bad the situations are in the areas they are helping. Better yet, people from the third world would be empowered to collect data in their own areas and irrefutably show that they need help. In contrast, someone who acquires this device in the first world may be seen as overly cautious and obsessive. This project also demonstrates the potential of IoT to empower the masses to monitor whats around them. The project was created during the “Build Something that matters” 2015 Hackaday prize so I believe Motisan’s mission was exactly that; to empower individuals to be the change that they want to see.

Each of the portable environment monitors’ data is also streamed to a server where it can connect to the uRADMonitor network which “allows citizens around the world to collaborate on a vast, crowdsourced dataset of global air quality and radiation measurement”. This aspect of the project also allows users to demonstrate disparities throughout the country to emphasize the disparity in air quality in different parts of the world. If IoT devices continue to link our community to make change together, the possibilities are endless.