1. Principles and practices¶
Out first assignment is meant to get us thinking on potential final projects.
For the last couple of years I’ve been trying to figure out a solution to a problem me and my parents have at the farm: the farm while narrow is relatively very long and the house is on the opposite side to the entrance so currently the gate needs to be locked/unlocked everyday manualy. Because of the distance comercial automated solutions are either expensive and bad or cheap and really bad. FabAcademy would probably be a good place to work out a simpler more cost efficient solution and with the option to add more features later. If I can develop a board to control the gate and interaction software/hardware that could use a regular IP network it might be useful for other people. After that’s working maybe add video capture and 2-way audio or even entry sensors and alarms for the actual home. Sky’s the limit.
That said, about 2-3 weeks ago I was introduced to a product called Proliner (a type of Coordinate Measuring Machine) that I found quite fascinating. It’s essentially a mechanical surveying total station for recording points and triangulating the spacial relationships between them that uses a wire instead of lasers. I think it’s amazing to take quick measurements of simple room scale objects in just a few minutes. Lukily the pantent also seems to have expired about 2 years ago so I’m guessing anyone is free to recreate them.
I’ll just proceed to explain both possible projects a bit better and if anyone reading this would like to tell me which I should pick I’m easy to find on the chat.academany under @ricardo.marques
Option A - Access Control System¶
So, farm is quite long and I need to remotely open and close the gate, both when arriving by car or for visitors when close to the house. Regular copper cable systems costs are astronomical because of the distances. Even though it’s further than regular networking CAT cable can handle an IP fiber connection would be versitile enough to handle other data beyond gate controls.
At the moment there’s only a swinging gate that’s locked with a simple padlock.
For system simplicity and durability I’d propose changing the swinging gate for a sliding one. Even if beyond the scope off FabAcademy I’d still need to prototype acordingly.
Wall remote control for wall instalations at the house or even just a fixed security station close to the entrance locked with a regular physical key.
And finally a small portable remote control to keep in the car. Maybe a compatibility system with widely available portable remotes might be less work long term to deal with making copies.
Option B - Mechanical Total Station Thingy¶
There’s not much to it really, just a box with a retractable wire container on top. Bunch of sensors to know where the handle is pointing and how much the wire was pulled out.
The logic board has to at least save the coordinates. Then to make the coordinates usable the spacial relationships between them need to be calculated either on the board or on an accessory software to translate the raw data into something that can be important into CAD programs.
Just noticed I should have added a button to the handle or a separate wireless remote so the main components know when to save the current coordinates.
Week 1 Conclusion¶
It’s been a while since i researched the access control thing and i should probably do some more due diligence on the intelectual property that other company can still have in place but I’m hoping I can pick between these 2 ideas sooner rather than later.
I also need to be way more mindful with my git commits.