Introduction: Anti-Parental Control Monitor

Have you ever have an experience where you want to play video games or watch videos on youtube, but afraid to be caught by your parents? The Anti-Parental control Monitor can solve this problem. The Anti-Parental Control Monitor uses an ultrasonic sensor to detects whether someone is coming toward you. When your parent came within 180 centimeters behind/beside you, the monitor will display your distance, and one LED light will light up to remind you to switch the screen; when your parents come within 150 centimeters, the second light will light up, and the LCD screen will display warnings to tell you to switch your screen; When your parents come within 100 centimeters, then all three LED light will light up, and the Monitor will directly switch your screen to another one, and the LCD screen will display warnings to warn you.

Step 1: Tools + Materials

Here's What you need to construct this project:

Arduino Board: Any kind of Arduino board is applicable to this project. However, the most popular board for Arduino projects is usually Arduino Leonardo and Arduino UNO. I personally used Arduino Leonardo to create this project.

Some major structures on the Arduino Leonardo board are: A USB port where you can connect the board to your computer and upload your code. The USB cable you use will have one side as type A USB port, which is the kind you usually see. The other side of the cable is Micro B port, where you connect it to the port of the Arduino port.

Breadboard x1: This is where all the jumper wires are attached.

3 LED lightbulbs: The 3 lightbulbs will be the reminder to remind you when to switch your screen.

LDC Screen: The screen will display how close your parents are behind you, and display some warnings to remind you to change your screen.

A computer: The monitor has to be connected to a computer, but the brand and the system doesn't matter as long as the computer is usable.

BreadboardJumper wires: The jumper wires are used to connect the materials to the breadboard and Arduino board

Utility knife, scissors, tapes, and rulers to create the monitor

A cardboard box: The box I used is about 12cm x 21cm x 11cm large, but you can change the size as long as it is large enough to contain all of the materials.

Step 2: Build the Product

1. Choose or make a box that is about 21cm x 12cm x 11cm large. However, the size of the box can be customized.

2. Stick the Arduino board and the breadboard at the bottom of the box. Make sure the breadboard and the Arduino board won't wobble around, or the jumper wires might fall off the port.

3. Cut a hole that's about 2cm x 2cm large outside the box. This hole would be the place where the USB cable will pass through to connect with the Arduino board when the other side of the port is connected to the computer, so the cable won't get tucked when you're using the monitor.

4. Cut Another hole that's about 7cm x 2.3 cm large. This would be the hole where you place the LCD screen. The hole is designed to let only the screen to appear. After sticking the LCD screen into the hole, add some tape and stick the LCD screen on the interior of the box.

5. Cut the third hole on top of the previous one. The hole should be about 4.5 cm x 1.5 cm large, and the Ultrasonic sensor will be placed into the hole. Then, add tape at the back of the sensor, and stick it on the interior of the box.

6. Connect the jumper wires to the LCD screen, LED lightbulb, and the ultrasonic sensor. Refer to the Circuit diagram on the top.

Step 3: Coding

In the code, you will try to create a program that would detect the presence of a person if someone passes behind you. you will use the ultrasonic sensor to test the distance.

  1. You will set an initial distance to 200 cm, meaning that if a person came closer than 200 cm, it will give out the first warning, and the first LED light will light up.
  2. Then, set another distance of 150 cm as the second warning, and let the second LED light up with the first light
  3. Set the 100 cm as the third warning. When the distance is less than 100 cm, then the third lightbulb will light up, and the monitor will directly switch your account to another screen.

Here's the full code: Code

After finishing uploading the code, the result you should get should be the same as the photos above.

Step 4: Decorate the Monitor

Decorate the Monitor with papers, tape, scissors, etc. Make it whatever you want it to look like! Once you finish decorating and sealing the box, the work is done!.