Neehar Sawant (neehar2) ECE 120
Aksh Patel (akshtp2) ECE 120
Avadh Patel (apate429) ECE 120
Ashank Kumar (ashankk2) CS 126, CS 173
Statement of Purpose:
The purpose of a smart mailbox aims to aid users in knowing when they have mail. Currently, everyone has to check their mailbox on a daily basis to see whether or not they have mail. However, with the smart mailbox, people will receive a notification on an app on their phone as to when they have mail so they know exactly when to check the mailbox.
Background Research:
The concept of a smart mailbox has existed for sometime now, however previous implementations vastly differ to our groups own idea. Most smart mailboxes that exist as of now are modified mailboxes that have been equipped with sensors to send homeowners a notification to their phones whenever the mailbox door is open or closed. This design of course contains a glaring flaw as it is impossible to actually verify if mail has been added or removed from the mailbox without someone checking the mailbox themselves. In terms of smart mailboxes with similar designs to our own, there have been several kickstarter campaigns for them in the last couple of years, however nothing of fruition has come from then.
Design Details:
This project will contain two key parts: an application, and a “smart mailbox”. The smart mailbox will be able to detect when there is mail in it. It can detect this through a weight sensor which we will install at the bottom of the mailbox. This sensor will be able to detect the change in weight as we will write code for this portion. Whenever there is a change in weight, it will notify the owner of the mailbox that there is mail in the box. However, if the user is putting in mail to send out, there will be an option for the user to select so they do not get notified that there is mail in their mailbox when in actuality, they are sending mail out. We will write the code that will connect with the hardware
Parts:
Raspberry Pi
Weight sensor
Mailbox
Wiring
Battery
Bluetooth
Possible Challenges:
The overarching challenge that we will be facing is obtaining a weight sensor that will be able to pick up whether or not a piece of mail has been placed in the mailbox. The majority of the mail that we will be testing with will have lightweight properties. Due to the mail being light, we will have to obtain a sensor strong enough to pick up even the lightest of objects. Another possible challenge is dealing with how far the range between the mailbox and the phone can be. The Raspberry Pi’s maximum Bluetooth range is a constraint limit for the range that a phone can be from the mailbox. If the Bluetooth range is too short, we must come up with another way to communicate the hardware with the software.