Introduction: The Traveling Geocache!
This project and future projects can be found at my website http://revoltlab.com/ where you can also find my blog.
UPDATE LOG:
NOW SUPER SIMPLE TO REPROGRAM!
Easy FTDI USB interface hardware explained in step 10
Easy FTDI USB interface programming explained in step 13
NEW code uploaded works perfectly with speaker output! see step 13
For those not familiar with geocaching, it is a wonderful treasure hunt/ adventure game for grownups and kids! Traditionally one finds a set of coordinates and cryptic clues on a website that hosts geocache locations. Using a hand held GPS device, one simply tromps off into the wilderness (or busy city intersection) and uses the power of observation and clue solving to find a hidden box usually with a prize inside! This is loads of fun and free! http://www.geocaching.com/
The Traveling Geocache still requires the user to get to a specific set of GPS coordinates but the hand held device is replaced by the Traveling Geocache itself. It is a locked box with an LCD display and one button. Upon pressing the button an intro screen welcomes the user to the Traveling Geocache and then displays the distance in kilometers from the target location. If the distance is larger than the programmed margin of error radius, the LCD informs you that access is denied. The box will not unlock until it is brought to the correct location! This is a great way to give a present to a friend or loved one. You can put tickets inside and set the magic location to the museum, aquarium, stadium, train station (DO NOT set a location that requires plane travel! Unopenable homemade electronic boxes are not welcome at airport security!). Any prize will do. Because the box is intended for a specific person, the prize can be far more special than in a traditional geocache.
Apart from the prize, the box also contains a log book where recipients can sign their names and write messages. There is also a usb drive with information on all of the electronics and software. This enables the recipient to reprogram the box, change the destination, customize the LCD messages, replace the prize, and re-gift the box to another friend, loved one, or trustworthy stranger. You can even leave a url somewhere inside the box where users can enter their names and destination locations enabling every user to track the life of the box!
This was my first time using GPS and LCD modules as well as my first time working with relays. Don't worry about the learning curve if you can already make a light blink on the arduino.
Thanks to sparkfun and instructables for holding the microcontroller contest. It really motivated me to document and post my first ever instructable! If you like it, please rate and vote for this project!
Please leave comments! =)
Step 1: Private Property Rights Are Upheld by Police With Guns
Despite our dreams of open source communism, capitalism is still a reality. With that in mind here is some info on intellectual property involved in this project.
This project was inspired by Mikal Hart's "Reverse Geocache Puzzle Box" He has been wonderful about providing information on his design. Please note: "Reverse Geocache" and "Reverse Geocache Puzzle Box" are trademarked intellectual property of Mikal Hart. If you think that is uncool, he DOES have all the wiring diagrams and software available for free as long as you are not profiting off of them. He did after all write several arduino libraries for the program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu7IysgaZf8&feature=player_embedded
The original reverse geocache:
http://arduiniana.org/projects/the-reverse-geo-cache-puzzle/
Build instructions for the original Reverse Geocache:
http://arduiniana.org/projects/the-reverse-geo-cache-puzzle/building/
Other Acknowledgements:
Thanks to lady ada for all her super helpful tutorials!
Thanks to sparkfun for keeping up the Free Day tradition. I got my very first atmega328 with my 10 free day dollars (YES, I actually made it onto their site on free day!)
Thank you as well to RickP on the arduino forums for help with the relay switch design.
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1293755082
Step 2: Materials + Tools
Sparkfun Electronics is a good place to get most of what you need http://www.sparkfun.com/
List of Tools:
Soldering Iron
Wire cutters + strippers
Hot Glue gun
epoxy
dremel
List of Materials:
Cool looking box
Solder
Breadboard http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9567
Arduinohttp://www.sparkfun.com/products/9950 (you need to get one with a through hole chip. The surface mount SMD version of the arduino UNO will not work)
atmega328 chip http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9061 or http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9217
28 pin dip socket (for atmega328) http://www.sparkfun.com/products/7942
perf board http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8812
LED http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9592
1N4004 or any 1N400X diode (you can get these at radioshack)
Momentary switch
330Ohm resistor http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8377
10KOhm resistor http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8374
10k Ohm trim pot http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9806
22pf Capacitors (2) http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8571
16MHz crystal http://www.sparkfun.com/products/536
22 gauge solid core wire (multiple colors help a lot) http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8022
standard servo http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9065
gps module http://www.sparkfun.com/categories/4
LCD (I used a 16X2) http://www.sparkfun.com/products/790
5 volt relay
4 AA battery holder
4 AA batteries
female headers http://www.sparkfun.com/products/115
male headers http://www.sparkfun.com/products/116
scrap wood
large nail or metal bar
eye hooks (3)
usb stick
notebook
pen
Step 3: Cutting the Box
This picture is of the first box I attempted to cut. This is the correct pattern but I cut the LCD hole too large! Always cut a smaller hole than you think you will need and work from there. I found it easiest to use a dremel but use whatever you like.
Now is also a good time to set four screws into the bottom of your box to act as legs. Later on, we will use two of these for a secret back door entrance into the box!
Step 4: Breadboard Arduino
If you bought an Atmega328 with the bootloader already installed, simply follow the second half of this step. If you have a blank chip, please follow the entire step.
"
Burning the Bootloader
If you have a new ATmega328 (or ATmega168), you'll need to burn the bootloader onto it. You can do this using an Arduino board as an in-system program (ISP). If the microcontroller already has the bootloader on it (e.g. because you took it out of an Arduino board or ordered an already-bootloaded ATmega), you can skip this section.
To burn the bootloader, follow these steps:
- Upload the ArduinoISP sketch onto your Arduino board. (You'll need to select the board and serial port from the Tools menu that correspond to your board.)
- Wire up the Arduino board and microcontroller as shown in the diagram to the right.
- Select "Arduino Duemilanove or Nano w/ ATmega328" from the Tools > Board menu. (Or "ATmega328 on a breadboard (8 MHz internal clock)" if using the minimal configuration described below.)
- Run Tools > Burn Bootloader > w/ Arduino as ISP.
You should only need to burn the bootloader once. After you've done so, you can remove the jumper wires connected to pins 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the Arduino board."
"Once your ATmega328p has the Arduino bootloader on it, you can upload programs to it using the USB-to-serial convertor (FTDI chip) on an Arduino board. To do, you remove the microcontroller from the Arduino board so the FTDI chip can talk to the microcontroller on the breadboard instead. The diagram at right shows how to connect the RX and TX lines from the Arduino board to the ATmega on the breadboard. To program the microcontroller, select "Arduino Duemilanove or Nano w/ ATmega328" from the the Tools > Board menu (or "ATmega328 on a breadboard (8 MHz internal clock)" if you're using the minimal configuration described below). Then upload as usual."
NOTE: In addition to following all the steps from the arduino website posted above, you will need to connect the reset pin of the arduino board to the reset pin of the atmega chip in order to upload code.
Step 5: Using a Servo
This goes for every step involving electronic components: TRY IT ON A BREADBOARD FIRST!
This tutorial on the arduino playground will help you out if you have never used a servo with the arduino. http://www.arduino.cc/playground/ComponentLib/Servo The code later in this instructable is already set out for you so don't worry too much about figuring out every line of code in the tutorial. What is important to know is how to connect the servo to your Atmega328 and how to adjust the rotation of the servo in the program.
A servo has three connections: Ground (black) 5 volts (red) and Signal (white). 5v and ground provide power to your servo and the signal line lets the arduino or atmega328 tell the servo what to do via one of the arduino's digital pins.
In the Traveling Geocache code there is a clearly labeled space for adjusting the angle at which your servo rotates.
This video from MAKE explains a little about servos and even shows you how to control a servo with a potentiometer (basically a knob). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKj9jJgj8Pc
Step 6: Using a GPS
TRY IT ON A BREADBOARD FIRST
Hooking up a GPS module to the arduino is surprisingly simple. Make sure to look at the data sheet for your GPS! It should have two TTL lines for receiving and transmitting data to the arduino. Regardless of the other wires coming out of your GPS all you need to worry about are the TX or transmitting TTL line which will funnel GPS data to the arduino, and the power and ground lines. Power and ground connect to the rails on the arduino just like the servo. The TX line from the GPS attaches to a digital arduino pin just like the signal wire on the servo.
The GPS I am using used to be available from parallax but has been discontinued: http://www.parallax.com/Store/DiscontinuedProducts/tabid/795/CategoryID/69/List/0/Level/a/ProductID/560/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName%2CProductName
It was the cheapest I was able to find a year ago, but now you may have to spend 40 dollars on one.
The GPS sends a string of NMEA data to the arduino. To the untrained eye it is a dizzying garble of numbers and punctuation. The arduino gps library and Mikal Hart's TinyGPS library act as interpreters for this data. They cut it up, label it, and display it in the serial terminal.
Again the arduino playground is a good place to brush up on interfacing GPS with arduino: http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Tutorials/GPS
If you get frustrated with the tutorial try using Mikal Hart's TinyGPS library. It is what the main program will be using anyways: http://arduiniana.org/libraries/tinygps/
NOTE: DO NOT connect the TX line of the GPS to the RX of the arduino as shown in the diagrams. This is because we need to use the arduino RX pin for programming and reprogramming purposes. Instead simply connect it to any of the digital pins 2 to 13.
If you have hooked everything up correctly and are just getting garbled gibberish from the serial terminal, check your baud rate and make sure it matches the rate set for the GPS device in the code you are using!
Step 7: Using an LCD
I learned how to use an LCD with arduino from the ladyada tutorial here: http://www.ladyada.net/learn/lcd/charlcd.html
This is a really in depth look at hooking up and operating LCDs with the arduino. As with every step, try this out on a breadboard before soldering anything to your perf board arduino!
Step 8: Using a Relay for Auto-turn-off
TRY ON A BREADBOARD FIRST
A relay works by activating an electromagnet to mechanically throw a switch. To use one you need to place it on the breadboard and test all the contacts. What you are looking for or rather listening for is a clicking sound. When you connect one end of the coil to ground and the other end to power it will activate and make a clicking noise. That click is the internal switch being physically drawn to a contact by the electromagnet. After finding the two coil leads, experiment with the remaining leads using an led with a resistor to determine where electricity can flow depending on the coil's state. The coil will allow a separate power source to flow between two other pins on the relay. You are looking for the led to turn on when you connect the coil. The led will be where your circuit will go.
Note: The relay in the schematics is viewed from overhead as if it were on a breadboard. The photo shows the relay mounted upside down in the box for easy access to the terminals.
Attachments
Step 9: Perfboard Arduino
I found this instructable by jmsaavedra helpful in making the leap from breadboard to perf board: https://www.instructables.com/id/Perfboard-Hackduino-Arduino-compatible-circuit/
Basically your goal is to recreate the arduino breadboard circuit on this perf board making it smaller, stronger, and more permanent.
All you need to put on the board is the same circuit you had on the breadboard with the addition of an LED on pin 13. Everything else in the above example you can ignore.
Keep your connections farther from the board edge than jmsaavedra because we need those outer spaces for female header connections and the LCD. Try to keep it tight!
The power regulator used in the above circuit isn't really necessary for our project because the operational voltage of the atmega328 is up to 5.5 volts and we are only going to be slightly over that at the very beginning of the Traveling Geocache's life. That being said, if you are worried about damaging the circuit you will need a regulator with less than the 2 volt drop of the 7805 regulator used in jmsaayedra's hackduino. The 7805 would make the maximum voltage available to the circuit 4 volts. This is not enough to optimally power the LCD and the servo.
The perfboard is going to be the central hub of your box. The servo, GPS, LCD, batteries, relay, and switch will all be connecting to this board in one way or another. Before getting into any of those connections however make sure you can run the simple blink LED program demonstrated in jmsaavedra's instructable. This will let you know if your board is working to begin with before complicating any troubleshooting process with more wires.
Step 10: Wiring It All Up!
Follow the schematics and photos. If the schematic images are too blurry, they are also available in pdf form. Make sure to read the image notes though!
The important thing to remember is that the
power,
ground,
reset,
tx,
rx,
analogue 0,
digital 2,
gps power,
gps ground,
digital 9,
servo power,
and servo ground
are all connected to the board via stackable female headers. SEE THE PHOTOS!
FTDI USB MODULE
I used a sparkfun 5v FTDI breakout board for easy usb interface. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716
Essentially this module replaces the arduino main board between the breadboard and the computer in step 4. The connections are very simple. 5 volts goes to power (connected on relay terminal), Ground goes to ground (also on relay terminal), rx goes to tx, tx goes to rx, and the DTR pin goes to reset on the perfboard arduino. NOTEYou will need a small capacitor (i used a .47uF capacitor) between the DTR pin and the reset terminal on the perfboard.
Step 11: Secret Back Door Wires
This super secret wiring will allow you to open the box even when it is not at the correct location. The arduino program has a function in it which is activated only when the relay switch power is being bypassed. When the program normally powers off (and says powering off) the secret wire terminals will keep the whole system running. After a few minutes the servo opens the box for 10 seconds before sealing the box back up.
If you haven't already, now is a good time to add four metal legs to the box. I used some screws that were lying around my basement. You can use any two of these for the secret wires, but the back two were closest to the circuit so I chose those ones. Simply solder a wire to each screw. Assign one to be red and one black so you know what is going where. Take the red wire and solder it to the relay pin which carries 5 volts from the relay to the arduino. Take the black wire and solder it to the ground connection on the relay. Cover the screws in hot glue and you have made your back door circuit! You can test it by applying 4 AA batteries to the screw on the bottom of the box. Be sure you remember which is ground and which is power! If it is wired correctly the circuit should turn on and stay on after the "powering down" message is displayed
Step 12: Locking Mechanism
The locking mechanism is pretty straightforward. A servo is attached to a nail with a paper clip. One end of the paper clip is bent and inserted into a hole on the servo horn. This allows the paper clip to pivot. The other end of the paper clip is hot glued to the head of the nail.
If your box has thick sides you can screw the hooks right into the box. Otherwise a scrap of wood epoxied to the box works great for setting the hooks!
Step 13: Programming and Software
Software
The software is based on Mikal Hart's "Reverse Geocache" code from Make Vol 25 http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol25?pg=146#pg146
Everything you will need to customize is commented in the code. Remember the LCD is 16 characters across so if you want to center text on the screen, add some spaces before the words.
Things you may want to change with each use:
Destination (get latitude and longitude by finding the location on google maps!) = line 46
Name of recipient = line 105
Distance from target necessary to open box (called RADIUS in the code) = line 48
"Welcome to BLANK" message upon opening = line 158
Maximum attempt reached message (I suggest having your url display on the LCD if the maximum 50 attempts is reached.) = line 117
For an explanation of the arduino libraries used see Mikal Hart's blog: http://arduiniana.org/
Programming
If you use a full arduino instead of a perfboard arduino you can use the usb jack on the arduino itself.
Instead of using a full arduino I chose to use the FTDI basic breakout board from Sparkfun: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716 For info on wiring see step 10. Programing through this module is as simple as running a miniUSB to USB cable between your computer and the box. After installing the arduino software, open the program attached in this step. Modify it as detailed above. Press the "verify" button that looks like a 'play' button on the top left of the arduino environment. If you get no error messages, click the upload button at the top of your screen. This will upload your modified code to the box changing the location, greetings, and other settings to your preferences.
NOTE: When you wish to reprogram your box be sure to run the eeprom_clear example program before loading your new Traveling Geocache code. This will set the attempt counter back to 0.
If you have any soldering experience, I recommend making your own usb to serial module. The ftdi chip is around 4 dollars and only requires a few components. See the pdfs below for some schematics on the ftdi circuits.
Step 14: Load USB Stick
Get out your trusty USB stick (not your favorite as it will be leaving you shortly) and put the attached files on it.
Step 15: Fill Your Box With Goodies!
In addition to the log book, pen, and usb there is space for special geocache treasure! Keep in mind who you are giving the box to.
Wedding rings, keys to a new car, encrypted wikileaks files, cards, tickets, gold, consumables, arduinos, glow in the dark glass jellyfish, go crazy!
This part is all up to you.
Step 16: Release Into the Wild!
Do a test run to make sure everything is functioning properly. Make sure you can install the arduino software with the usb and that the code runs fine before releasing your Traveling Geocache into the big beautiful world! Also, install NEW batteries with each gift!
Step 17: Thoughts, Concerns, Considerations
Final Thoughts:
The Traveling Geocache is not the cheapest of gifts. It is important to choose a good person to give it to. They should be trusted to actually find the location, not dismantle the box (steal components etc), and keep the box in circulation by giving it away. It is also a bonus if the recipient is interested in programming or electronics, but this is not necessary.
For me, the really exciting part of this project is being able to track where the box goes. To be sure this is possible you may want to write the url of your tracking site on the first page of your log book. As noted in the code, the url should also display on the LCD when the maximum attempt limit has been reached. Your website could be open to the public or require a password kept somewhere in the code or box. It could have space for media (pictures and video of where the box has been), user blog entries, and emergency instructions for opening the box after using up all 50 attempts!
I like the contrast of the log book and website. Something about using electronics to access a physical book makes opening the box more fun.
REMINDER: NO PLANES!
I hope you enjoyed this instructable! If you have any questions or comments be sure to put them in the comments section on the first page!
Happy Caching!
Will
Participated in the
Microcontroller Contest
