Laundrometer

We didnt have time to film a video so the video is just a placeholder

Peter Sullivan, Max Mcknight, Ket Hollingsworth, Ravago Jones

Laundrometer

(i) Project Description We approached the Maker track, and would like to apply to the 5C hack and multi-school hack overlays. We wanted to tackle the issue of bringing all your things to the laundry room, only to discover that all of the machines are taken. This could create feelings of rage, anger, and annoyance which we are looking to prevent. There is a screen in Mudd’s North dorm that displays which machines are currently available. We will use a microcontroller with a camera to capture that screen, take that data, and represent it on a website. To create our project, we used Next.js in order to create our user interface, and a microcontroller with micropython to handle taking the pictures and controlling the camera. We used OpenCV2 to process the images taken and ChatGPT 4 for OCR to retrieve the text from the image. Some of the ethical considerations of our project include making sure that no personal information like people’s faces are recorded by our camera.

(ii) Purpose: Our project aims to alleviate the frustration and inconvenience caused by the lack of available laundry machines in dormitories. This common issue can lead to negative emotions like anger and annoyance, affecting the well-being of students. By providing real-time information about machine availability, we hope to reduce stress and improve the overall laundry experience for dorm residents. Our motivation stems from a desire to use technology to solve everyday problems and enhance quality of life. We believe that by addressing this issue, we can contribute to creating a more harmonious and efficient living environment within university dormitories. Looking ahead, the future of our project involves expanding its implementation to other dormitories and possibly even commercial laundry facilities. By doing so, we aim to make the world a bit better by saving people time and frustration, and fostering a sense of community by promoting shared resources.

(iii) How it Works: Our website will visually present all of the machines in the laundry room, represented by images. Under each image, there will be one of three possible states the laundry machine can be in. Open, which means that the machine is currently available. Running, which means that machine is currently running, along with an estimate for about how much longer it will be running for. Or Done, which means that the machine is finished with its cycle, but the person using it has not removed their clothes yet. The user can quickly view this information to understand the current state of the laundry room. Finally, we have a “View Feed” button, which will show the most recent picture of the screen just in case the user has any doubts about the information presented.