Be Warned When Kid Is Back From School (with a Beacon, Without Programming)

iBeacons are blutooth devices that broadcast their information (position...) so that bluetooth aware devices (like smartphones, Raspberry Pi...) are able to detect them and get their information.

Put on in your kid's bag and let's trigger an action (an email) when the beacon is detected near.

This tutorial uses a TimeSquAir (http://TimeSquAir.io) a all in one Raspberry Pi bundled with a LED Matrix and a NFC tag, easily customizable with a visual editor powered by IBM's Node-RED (http://Nore-RED.org). Altenatively, you can use a Thingbox (http://theThingbox.io).

You'll also need a bluetooth dongle.

Open the visual editor with your internet browser.

Then, Use the menu import / node and enter "ttb-ibeacon", then validate and wait for the install.

After rebooting, the "ibeacon scan" node is available in the palette.

When you click "Go", the Pi scans around for beacons and on node per beacon will be added to the workspace.

Double click it to change its name to something better (use the name of your kid), then add a Go and debug node:

After activating the flow, the display tab gets filled with the distance between the beacon and the Pi:

you can use that distance in meter to trigger an action, for instance sending an email with the email node:

In this flow, a Philips Hue bulb is set differently weather the beacon (in my pocket) is near or not of my TimeSquAir.

Learn more about this tutorial here.

Learn how to link things together with TimeSquAir (http://TimeSquAir.io)
and discover the other Instructables:

• Publish "hot Deals" through the Physical Web
• Control your world with your Pi without programming
• Build your own internet radio
• How to use IFTTT on your Pi
• Build a selfie machine with an IP Camera in less than 15 minutes
• Scroll a message on a LED Matrix