Smart Door System for Impaired Hearing (IDC2018IOT)

We all hope to have a home that suites us, but the standard build is not right for everyone. A door to a house is very poorly designed for people who are deaf or have impaired hearing. People with impaired hearing cannot hear a knock on the door, or the doorbell ringing.

So our solution to this is a way for anyone to build their own smart door system that is compatible with impaired hearing.

When a typical visitor arrives at a house, they either knock on the door or ring the doorbell, or both. So we took both scenarios into consideration. If a knock is sensed on the door or the doorbell is rung, then a strip of lights is lit up on the inside of the door, and a notification is sent to buzz on your phone* in case you don't notice the lights. The doorbell also still functions as a regular doorbell, in case there are other people living in the house that do not have impaired hearing. Lastly, a short recording is taken of your visitor, and automatically sent to your phone, so that you can see who's at your door, whether you're home or not.**

In this way, you can quickly make any standard door compatible for people with impaired hearing, while still leaving all the regular features, like a doorbell.

We hope you find this useful and enjoy!

A project designed and built by Dor Moshe and Neta Rozy, for an IOT class at IDC.

* A smart watch can also be incorporated, to have the vibrations on your wrist. Just have your phone notifications buzz on your smart watch as well.

** The system can be built without the video recordings if you do not have a smart camera.

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Our main challenge was to find a way to encompass all scenarios, we wanted to find a way that both people with impaired hearing and also people without could enjoy the same functionality in a door, as well as be able to address both a knock and ring, to not limit visitors with their behavior.

We have two main limitations, one is that part of the hardware is placed outside, so people with bad intentions can steal or harm the device. Another limitation is that some doors do not have rubber around their hinges and it may harm the wires after a while of being open and closed on them, but an easy solution to this is to wrap them with a rubber material that will protect them.

In the future we can see the system also incorporate face recognition into the video recording of guests, and then have a smart door lock that would let them in if they're family or friends. We would also like to add more lights around the house that would lights up when someone is at the door, in case you're in another room and your phone is not on you.

Step 1: Parts

For this project you will need:

1) NodeMCU

2) Large Breadboard

3) Small Breadboard

3) Piezo Sensor

4) Piezo Speaker

5) Button

6) LED Strip

7) Resistors

8) Wires + Extensions

4) Optional: Smart Home Camera

5) Smartphone

6) Power Source

7) Optional: Smart Watch

Step 2: Build the System

Step 3: Input Code

Download the code and upload it to your NodeMCU.

finalIOT.ino
Download

Step 4: Download Messenger & Camio

Download the Messenger* and Camio apps to your phone, and create a user if you don't already have one. If you already have a user then log in.

iPhone:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/messenger/id454638...

https://itunes.apple.com/il/app/camio/id618450809?...

Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....

*We used the Messenger app because IFTTT has a limit of 10 SMS messages a month.

Step 5: IFTTT

Create an IFTTT account (if you don't already have one), and create the applets shown above.

https://ifttt.com

Step 6: Smart Home Camera

Install your smart home camera to your door, and connect to it from your Camio app.*

* If you do not own a wifi camera and are not interested in purchasing one, you can continue to build the system without this feature and it will not harm the other features.

Step 7: Test Your Setup

Before we connect your setup to the door, make sure the system is working. Experiment with tapping the piezo sensor and see if you receive a Messenger notification, the LED strip lit up, and that your Smart Home Camera recorded to the Camio app. Then experiment with pushing the button and see that the above three items happened as well as the speaker rang (if you do not need the system to make a sound at all, you can skip the speaker).

If not all the components are working as you'd like, go back to see if you've missed any steps along the way.

If everything is working as you see fit, lets go ahead and install your new system.

Step 8: Install Inside

Secure the large breadboard and all it's components to the inside of the door using tape or glue. Then pass the cables of the small breadboard through the side of the door to the other side (you may need to disconnect the small breadboard briefly for this step).

Step 9: Install Outside

Secure the small breadboard to the frame of your door (on the hinged side) using tape or glue, then secure the piezo sensor to your door also using tape or glue (tape is recommended in this case).