GuardKnob

Inspiration

As we brainstormed ideas, we wanted to create a device that enhanced both home security and quality of life through smart automation. As our loved ones grow older, everyday tasks such as cooking can suddenly become dangerous, unfortunately even fatal. The elderly may lack the senses, ability, or mobility to be able to react to potentially disastrous situations. That’s why we designed GuardKnob—a system to automate and monitor gas stoves, making kitchens safer for everyone.

What it does

GuardKnob functions as a system. The Knob part replaces traditional stove knobs, allowing for remote control of turning once the stove is on. The second device, which can be attached to the hood of a stove, acts as a sensor for propane, butane and other flammable gases. If it detects gas levels above safe thresholds, it commands the knob to turn the stove off. It also updates the website dashboard, and sends a notification to the user. The Knob has the capabilities of turning the stove off automatically if it is left on for an unreasonable amount of time (such as 9 hours).

How we built it

As we were fully fleshing out the idea we started with rough sketches which allowed for us to actually use Solid Works to be able create mock up designs for this knob until finally settling on one that would be a universal size and be able to fit into any stove seamlessly. We then used 3D Printers with PLA to bring to life our concept. The knob contains an ESP32, battery, servo motor, and potentiometer inside. An inward gear is fixed to the stove surface. The servo has a smaller gear to rotate the entire knob, and the potentiometer also has a gear that rotates so that the system always knows the rotation of the knob, regardless of user input. This facilitates the timer and temperature features. Then we created a web server with a reactJS and TailwindCSS front end for ease of use, which displays stove data and allows the control of the timer and temperature functions. A proxy is hosted for the ESP32s to be able to send and receive data.

Challenges we ran into

Coming into the hackathon as freshmen with no prior experience in web development (JavaScript/CSS), CAD modeling (SolidWorks), or hardware systems, we faced a steep learning curve. We spent hours troubleshooting ESP32 data transfers, configuring local servers, and recovering from a print that failed nearing the finals hours. Despite the setbacks, we persevered through countless errors and last-minute fixes to make our vision a reality.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our main accomplishment from this was the significant amount of progress we made within the hackathon timeframe. For the website, it can now run with real time updates and back and forth communication. We gained experience in several different frameworks, such as reactJS, Node.js, Express, Vite and TailwindCSS. We were also able to finish all our CAD modelling and solder our hardware components.

What we learned

Through many challenges we faced, one of the biggest learning experiences was cad modeling. This is very important as it’s the part that actually brings our ideas to life through the usage of solid works. Not to mention we had to learn soldering and laser cutting, both completely are differ in task but are very important in expanding our skills for detailing parts in the project. Not to mention networking in order to create servers which will hoist data. These are all things we learned during the 24 hour hackathon which was really hard as it was difficult in managing time but we finished with minutes to spare as we planned very well ahead.

What's next for GuardKnob

Regarding future developments to our project, we plan to make a properly wireless thermometer. The version which we came up with for now is quite bulky and it was difficult to communicate the temperature with the other two ESP32s.