Inspiration
According to gov.uk, 74% of drink spiking victims are women. Additionally 80% of drink spiking incidents occur in public. We wanted to create a device that would actively warn a user when their drink has potentially been spiked.
What it does
Monitors a drink and signals when it has been tampered with. The coaster has different modes for when the user is close or far from the drink.
How we built it
The plastic pieces were designed in Solid works then 3d printed. An Arduino programmed in C++ controls the coasters logic.
Challenges we ran into
We were planning on using a load cell from a kitchen scale but we didn't have the amplifier chip required to run it. Because there was no good way to read the data from the chip in the scale we created a rudimentary force measuring device out of a hall effect sensor and springs.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Creating an alternative to a load cell with limited parts and time.
What we learned
Load cells need an Hx711 chip.
What's next for Smart Coaster
Using a load cell and a custom PCB the device could be reduced to about the size of a normal coaster. These changes would make it a useful low-profile device for preventing spiked drinks.
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