Interactive Map

The Plan:

We are constructing an interactive map of the Roser ATLAS Center. The purpose of this is to assist people in finding rooms in the ATLAS building. Say you come in for the first day of class and you have a class located in room 104 of the ATLAS building, but you can't find it. Simply input "104" into the keypad and the room you're searching for lights up on the map, easily and efficiently directing you to your class.

A map of the first floor of the ATLAS building will be displayed on a piece of wood. Each room will have a clear LED that lights up red when the input is correct for that room. There will be a keypad and an LCD screen that displays the current keypad input. No lights will illuminate until the room number is inputted and is displayed on the LCD screen in whole.

The enclosure will be constructed with wood. Laser cutting will be utilized to ensure that cuts are clean and the wood looks nice. Laser cutting will also allow the map to be etched into the wood. We will then go over the etching with an art marker to darken it and make it look nice. Holes will be cut out of the control panel to allow the keypad and LCD screen merge with the enclosure. To fit the LEDs into the map, holes will be drilled into the rooms that we want to install LEDs. We will then insert the LEDS and secure them.

The Construction:

During the construction of our interactive map, we ran into some issues. The biggest and most disappointing issue concerned the keypad. We made a couple of mistakes while soldering, and that caused keypad issues. The keypad was not secured correctly, and attempts to remedy our mistakes resulted only in catastrophe. We had to make a DIY keypad using buttons, a breakout board, some solder, and a lot of wires. The DIY keypad was a success! We were able to input numbers similarly to the original keypad, but it didn't look as good. We also ran into problems with the LCD screen. The LCD screen was working as intended at some point during the construction, but it decided to clock out on us towards the end of the fabrication process. We tried with much toil to make it work, but the LCD screen had made up its mind. It was not going to function as intended.

The Product:

Besides these problems, the fabrication was largely a success. There were a couple of spotty connections here and there and some wires could have been soldered more competently, but, for the most part, our map works as intended. With a few more days of work and some polishing, our interactive map could become a useful tool to be used by the public.

With the feedback we received on presentation day, we realize that we can make some easy additions. For one, our map would benefit from a "You Are Here" dot, as it is difficult to understand where you are on the map without one. We would also add a "clear" button on the keypad. The process of clearing the input is not intuitive, and the user experience would be largely improved with a "clear" button. Although the product is not perfect, it is in a good state and could be used to help people find rooms they're looking for.

Arudino Nano Every

keypad

display

LEDs

wood

We drew up how we imagined the final product to look and function. We also made a list of parts and ordered them.

We developed a working prototype to show our concept. We utilized Arduino and cheap materials to make it.

https://gist.github.com/seanriddle24/1efdbe84225929bf0bd749857b00b5f7

We made the models in Fusion360 and laser cut them. We used laser cut etching and a marker to make the map. Holes were drilled into rooms that we wanted to install LEDs.

We got the keypad and LCD screen working though example code and minor tweaks.

lcd screen test 1 code: https://gist.github.com/seanriddle24/cf41fd6a3bca8fdb02e62ababeb3659d

lcd screen test 2 code: https://gist.github.com/seanriddle24/91ffb10b63b74721f8bb9aacf8b853db

lcd screen test 3 code: https://gist.github.com/seanriddle24/2a4ec7d55c97b0842681769f22ed5b80

final code: https://gist.github.com/seanriddle24/8a501d9b65e33d9af125be36d6731a44

The original keypad broke beyond repair, so we had to make another one with buttons, solder, and a breakout board.

The enclosure didn't stay as snug and secure as we had hoped, so we had to use tape to make it stand without trouble. The keypad was glued to the back of the wood that it is stuck to, and the LCD was simply stuffed into the hole. A small hole was cut into the back of the enclosure to allow the wire access to the arduino.