SCOUT : Smart People Counter! ( a Low Cost Counter for Crowd Density Mapping at Large Gatherings and Shopping Malls )

Hello Everyone,

I'm Geeve George a 15 year old Maker/Electronics Hobbyist.I love Computer Vision , Android Development and Algorithm Design.I am currently in 11th Grade Computer Science Student at Little Rock Indian School. :) Find more about me at : www.geevegeorge.co.vu.

This project plays an important role in Home automation & Home Security , the project is called Home Automation People Counter!

Have fun making this project , we will be dealing with photoresistors and low power lasers! ( Do not use high power lasers! )

*Use only a 5 mW red/any color laser! Make this project and have lots of fun reverse engineering it!

Step 1: Hardware Setup!

Materials Required :

- A MediaTek LinkIt One Board

-Grove Light Sensor

-Grove LCD RGB Backlight Display ( LCD Display , 16*2 )

-Grove Base Shield

-Grove 26AWG Cable Wires

-Laser Pointer ( 5mW ) ( Do not use powerful lasers! )

Steps :

1) -Firstly Connect the USB Cables to the Board!

2) -Then take out the Grove Base Shield and plug it on to the board!

3)-Next take out one 26AWG Grove Cable and connect it to the Grove Light Sensor.

4) -Then connect the Cable to A0 pin in the Base Shield.

5) -Now take out the LCD Display and connect it to the Grove Cable.

6) -Connect the other end of the grove cable to I2C in the Grove Base Sheild!

7) Now setup the LDR [ Photoresistor ] as shown in the Circuit Diagram.

8) Setup the Laser and light sensor parallel to each other as shown in the second and third picture!

9) -That's all for the hardware setup!

*Refer the first Picture to see the Hardware Setup !

*Try to setup the Laser and the Light Sensor in such a way that they are parallel to each other as shown in the second and third picture! You can 3D Print the Laser Holder 3D Model Shown Below :

Laser Holder for 3D Printing :

Step 2: Two Step Hardware Setup!

Step 3: Software Setup!

Firstly You need setup your MediaTek LinkIt One Board with the Arduino IDE , So I request you to follow the Instructions available in the Official Website of MediaTek Labs : http://bit.ly/1KcU66X
Once you have completed the Setup , you can launch the IDE and make sure you are connected to the Proper COM Port.

After setting up WiFi you need to download the following libraries :

1) Wifi library ( Present in the Arduino IDE by Default )

2) SPI library ( Present in the Arduino IDE by Default )

3) RGB LCD Display Library

*To install the LCD Display libraries :

Download a zip file from here .

Extract the contents of the zip file to the arduino IDE folder.

Open the extracted folder and go into the libraries folder and copy Grove_LCD_RGB_Backlight to Arduino libraries folder.

After that open the arduino ide and go to sketch>import libraries>add libraries and select the folder containing the LCD Display libraries and click open.

Again go to sketch> import libraries and select the LCD Library.

Now its time to code!

Arduino Source Code : [Github Repository]

<p>/*</p><p> * SCOUT : Smart People Counter
 * Instructables : https://www.instructables.com/member/Geeve+George</p><p>*/</p><p>#include <rgb_lcd.h>
#include <spi.h>
#include <wire.h></wire.h></spi.h></rgb_lcd.h></p><p>rgb_lcd lcd;</p><p>int SensorPin = A0;
int counter = 0;
void setup() {
  lcd.begin(16,2);
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(SensorPin,INPUT);</p><p>}</p><p>void loop() {
  int SensorVal = analogRead(SensorPin);
  </p><p>  if(SensorVal<770)
  {
    
    counter++;
    
    if(counter==1)
    {
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.print(counter);
      lcd.print(" person");
      
      delay(3000);
    }
    
    else if(counter>1)
    {
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.print(counter);
      lcd.print(" people");
      
      delay(3000);
    }
    
    
  }
  </p><p>}</p>

Or Download the attached ino file here!

Come on guys reverse engineer the code and make amazing stuff for a better world , a better tomorrow!

How does this project work?

As you can see in the video below, in this project we used light sensors , LCD Displays and lasers!!

The code for this project was challenging and interesting for me to work on. In this project we will be using light sensors , lcd display and lasers to detect the number of people entering a room in or the entire home , while you are away from your home!

People wont be able to notice a 5mW Laser , as it won't show the path of light unless exposed to a dense environment!

When the person enters the room a string is sent to the LCD Display.

I came up with the innovation to use Light sensors as photoresistors are very cheap and efficient!.

In this project we will be converting String to Char . I made use of LCD Displays in this project to notify the user that the counter is being prepareed , we will see how to code simple LCD Animation and finally display the number of people entering.

This data can be also sent to an android app.

Leave a comment below if you would like to see that! ;)

Best of luck , keep making!

Scout.ino
Download

Step 4: Results!

This project is very useful as a user can apply this technology in his home and can monitor it via the internet!

i.e through Twitter through his/her Twitter account!

This is the most efficient , cheap and fast way to monitor home electronics while you are away from home it can be used to monitor the state of all the devices at home which can be used to save electricity efficiently , ensure home security and much more!

Good luck! Keep making!

If you have any issues or doubts leave a comment below!

I'll be happy to reply to them :)