2.5 Design Challenge!
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In this lesson you will put all of the knowledge you have learned so far to the test!
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Here are some questions for you to think about and discuss in your groups or as a whole class:
- What is a smart home?
- What are some positives and negatives of making your home smarter?
- How can a Smart Home help people with disabilities?
- How can a Smart Home help our environment and promote sustainable energy and resource practices?
- How can a Smart Home help to make our daily lives easier and reduce complications?
- Have you seen or heard of any Smart Home solutions before?
- If so, where did you see these ideas?
- What was the idea?
- How did it work?
- Is there something similar that you could try to create as a group?
- Does this idea make you think of any other ideas that could also work?
- What is a smart home?
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You have been tasked with designing an ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) Smart Home system. You must work collaboratively with others in order to identify a real-world problem to be solved and then design a real-world solution to solve that problem.
- You must work in a group of approximately 6 people.
- Each group member must make meaningful contributions towards the group design process and final group design result.
Required Devices- You will have 3 Bitlink kits to use for the challenge.
This will mean that your group will have access to 3 micro:bits, 3 sensor:bits and 3 duplicates of each of the included sensors, devices and cables.
Suggested Blocks
- You must use your current knowledge of the micro:bit and block-based coding with MakeCode to put purposeful and meaningful contributions towards this challenge.
- You must work in a group of approximately 6 people.
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When people have a problem or an issue, we think of ways to solve them.
- What if I am waiting for an important parcel to be delivered in the mail?
- I would want to know when it is delivered to my mailbox.
- I would want to know when it is delivered to my mailbox.
- What if I am worried about someone entering my house without my knowledge and stealing my belongings?
- I would want to know if someone breaks a window, enters through an open window, or breaks down my door.
- I would want to know if someone breaks a window, enters through an open window, or breaks down my door.
- What if I am wanting to use less electricity around my home?
- I would want to make sure that lights and appliances are only turned on when I needed them.
Work in your group to design your own problem or issue that needs solving in a Smart Home.
If you are stuck for ideas, here are some suggestions.Smart Home Security System:
- A security system that is triggered when motion and/or noise are detected in the empty house. An alarm that sounds when the sensors are triggered and a radio message is sent to another micro:bit, notifying of the detection.
Power-Saving Smart Lights:
- When the sun rises, the smart house system detects the light level, and once the level reaches a certain amount, it turns off any active house lights to conserve energy.
Smart Home Mail Delivery Detection:
- If the doorbell button is pressed, a ‘knocking sound’ is detected at the front door, or movement is detected for longer than 15 seconds, a radio message is sent to a micro:bit in another room, notifying of the arrival at your front door.
2. When mail is delivered into your letterbox, a radio
message is sent to a micro:bit in your home. Your system
could be also show a blinking light or make a sound when
the message is received, and can be customised to suit
people.Smart Home Forgotten Closures:
- When the electric garage door, front door, or electric front gate are opened and movement is detected entering or exiting the opening, a timer starts and once the timer has run out, the door/gate will close if no other object is detected to enter/exit.
Smart Home Conveniences:
1. Lights that turn ‘on’ (if are already set to ‘off’) when
someone enters the front door. If the lights are ‘on’ and
someone exits the front door, the lights turn ‘off’.2. Lights that turn on/off via a ‘clap’ or sound-initiated trigger.
3. House lights ‘flash’ or ‘blink’ when someone rings the
doorbell.4. A servo motor that holds open a dog flap/cat flap once a
motion sensor detects the animal has approached. - What if I am waiting for an important parcel to be delivered in the mail?
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You've reached the end of Module 2! In this module we've built a smart doorbell, an automatic fan, an automatic pet feeder, a smart light, and designed our own Smart Home solutions.
The next module is all about Smart Farms. You'll learn how to measure soil moisture, how to program an automatic plant waterer, how to detect different changes in the environment, and build an animal counter.