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Pet Buzzer Blog for IoT Maker Challenge

Pet Buzzer Blog for IoT Maker Challenge

Hello everyone, this is a blog for my entry in the IoT Maker Challenge called the Pet Buzzer. The problem that the project solves is as follows-

Imagine that the user has gone to his/her office/school or for any other work that needs immediate attendance, and the user has left his/her pet at home. Now pets, especially dogs, get anxious when their owners don’t return home after some time. This may not seem like a big problem at first but over time it can impact the pet’s mental health. Enter the Pet Buzzer.

The main principle is that the user has his/her phone when the user goes out, the Pet Buzzer makes it possible to use the phone like a remote control for the buzzer using an app called Blynk. The user can trigger the alarm to let the pet know that they are about to reach home. What it does is that it sends a signal which the ESP32 chip picks up using Wi-Fi. The chip then uses that signal as the trigger to its alarm. After a few days of this practice, the pet will begin to understand that the user comes home just some time after the buzzer beeps, and thus, when the buzzer beeps, the user is about to return home.

The components consist of an ESP32 chip, a buzzer, and an LED, and it is a relatively simple project. It is still in its early stages though and is just a working digital simulation in Wokwi. But the code is completely ready, and it is divided into 3 broad sections.

  1. The Definitions- This is where all the code definitions for all the Blynk, Wi-Fi, and hardware elements are. This is an important section because without this code, the microcontroller wouldn’t be able to know which elements are which.
  2. The Setup Code- This is where all the code which must be executed before the final loop is. This section is also very important because without it the computer won’t be able to connect to the Wi-Fi which is the basis of this entire project.
  3. The Frontend- This is the section where the code when executed will be seen by the user. It contains the if else which tells the chip when to sound the alarm. It also contains the main loop which tells Blynk to run until the user closes it.

Another part of the project but not necessarily part of the code are the libraries which have been installed.

This is a simple project which is not very scientific, but the scientific concept of Radio Waves and how they are applied in Wi-Fi is heavily used here. Other than that, thank you for your time. Below are the links given for the project and the corresponding video. I hope you like the video and the project. (It would be better to watch the video first as a demonstration of how it works and you can check out the project to see the code). 

 

Video-


Project-

 

 

 

Skand's Team
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About Makershala

Makershala is a Learning by Making ecosystem for kids from age 8-16 to help them discover their interests, develop future skills and deepen conceptual understanding. Makershala follows the Project Based Learning approach as its way of teaching in which kids work on authentic, real life & personally meaningful projects.


Kids work on these projects in different educational settings, namely; self-learning; online 1:4 Peer to Peer with a mentor; or in a school. Projects are categorized in different interest segments like Robotics, Coding, Electronics, 3D Printing, Animations, Photography, Machine Learning, Astronomy and many more.


Each project is mapped with classroom concepts, 21st century skills, UN sustainable development goals and interests/careers to not only focus on holistic development of a child but help them identify their calling by giving them exposure to problems that exist in the real world.


Why Project-Based Learning

Project-Based Learning has the potential to solve many of the learning problems we see today beyond foundational literacy.

  • Ownership: Learners have complete ownership on what they need to know to solve a problem and come up with the best solution in the best way. It can be a concept or a software tool or a skill. Kids involved in projects are never required to be told to study.

  • Interdisciplinary: Unlike traditional learning where subjects are taught in silos and learners develop a perception of liking or disliking a subject. In project based learning, the given problem is supreme and it may require to know something from maths, science and history together.

  • Experiential learning: We generally retain 75% of what we do as opposed to only 5% of what we hear and 10% of what we read, hence PBL helps kids retain what they learn.

  • Lifelong learning: The most important gift that PBL gives to its learners is to make them lifelong learners as this is the most required skill to lead a good life, personally & professionally.

  • Skills & Knowledge balance: Project-based learning doesn’t focus too much on memorizing information, rather it equally demands practising life skills to be able to do better in projects.

How Makershala Works
  • Parents and Kids who wish to start their journey with Makershala, are suggested to pick one interest area of the child and then choose a plan.

  • Parents and Kids after enrolling in a course based on their interest are assigned a batch. Each batch has 3-4 learners and 1 mentor.

  • Each course has 6 guided projects and 1 challenge project.

  • During the project, formative assessments are conducted to evaluate learner’s knowledge & skills.

  • On completion of a project parents and kids get a learning report which indicates the skills and knowledge developed/displayed by them.

  • Kids also build their portfolio which showcases problems solved, solutions created, skills developed, knowledge acquired and technologies learnt.

  • Kids earn rewards in the form of badges, points and coins for their performance in a project, course and overall.

  • Kids are maneuvered to take up courses and projects from different learning segments to gain more clarity on their interests. This eventually helps them in picking up a career.

makershala logo

About Makershala

Makershala is a Learning by Making ecosystem for kids from age 8-16 to help them discover their interests, develop future skills and deepen conceptual understanding. Makershala follows the Project Based Learning approach as its way of teaching in which kids work on authentic, real life & personally meaningful projects.

Kids work on these projects in different educational settings, namely; self-learning; online 1:4 Peer to Peer with a mentor; or in a school. Projects are categorized in different interest segments like Robotics, Coding, Electronics, 3D Printing, Animations, Photography, Machine Learning, Astronomy and many more.

Each project is mapped with classroom concepts, 21st century skills, UN sustainable development goals and interests/careers to not only focus on holistic development of a child but help them identify their calling by giving them exposure to problems that exist in the real world.

Why Project-Based Learning

Project-Based Learning has the potential to solve many of the learning problems we see today beyond foundational literacy.

  • Ownership: Learners have complete ownership on what they need to know to solve a problem and come up with the best solution in the best way. It can be a concept or a software tool or a skill. Kids involved in projects are never required to be told to study.

  • Interdisciplinary: Unlike traditional learning where subjects are taught in silos and learners develop a perception of liking or disliking a subject. In project based learning, the given problem is supreme and it may require to know something from maths, science and history together.

  • Experiential learning: We generally retain 75% of what we do as opposed to only 5% of what we hear and 10% of what we read, hence PBL helps kids retain what they learn.

  • Lifelong learning: The most important gift that PBL gives to its learners is to make them lifelong learners as this is the most required skill to lead a good life, personally & professionally.

  • Skills & Knowledge balance: Project-based learning doesn’t focus too much on memorizing information, rather it equally demands practising life skills to be able to do better in projects.

How Makershala Works

  • Parents and Kids who wish to start their journey with Makershala, are suggested to pick one interest area of the child and then choose a plan.

  • Parents and Kids after enrolling in a course based on their interest are assigned a batch. Each batch has 3-4 learners and 1 mentor.

  • Each course has 6 guided projects and 1 challenge project.

  • During the project, formative assessments are conducted to evaluate learner’s knowledge & skills.

  • On completion of a project parents and kids get a learning report which indicates the skills and knowledge developed/displayed by them.

  • Kids also build their portfolio which showcases problems solved, solutions created, skills developed, knowledge acquired and technologies learnt.

  • Kids earn rewards in the form of badges, points and coins for their performance in a project, course and overall.

  • Kids are maneuvered to take up courses and projects from different learning segments to gain more clarity on their interests. This eventually helps them in picking up a career.