Peek-a-Thief
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Overview
What goes on in your dorm room while your away? When you have class and your roommate is home, what do you think he is doing? If you are even slightly suspicious that your personal stash of snacks is being eaten by someone else, then we have the solution for you.
Introducing: Peek-a-Thief, an operating system with the sole purpose of capturing close up images of the people who open up your drawers. Our end goal is to create a security device that discretely captures thieves in action.
Team Members
- Michael Pichardo
- Derick Speltz
- Will Luer (TA)
Objectives
- Sense a person that opens up your drawer using the HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensors
- Create a sleek operation design that ensures the electrical hardware is hidden
- Create a mobile system that can operate in multiple environments including dorm rooms, offices, etc.
- When triggered by the sensor, take a picture using an 8-Megapixel camera
- Take these pictures of a person within a 1.0 meter range of the sensors every second for the first 10 seconds the drawer is opened
- Store picture data locally on Raspberry Pi
- Stretch Objective: Upload pictures onto social media
Challenges
- Design sensor supports (for 3-D print) using SolidWorks software
- Hiding camera, wires, etc. so that they cannot easily be seen from the outside
- Construction: Attach the sensor supports onto the inside of the drawer with command strips and ensuring that the sensors don't interfere with each other
- Environment: Finding a good location for the system to operate in (good lighting for the picture, minimal extra noise that would interfere with the ultrasonic sensors)
- Hardware: Making sure sensors are stable and that the ultrasonic sensors work when sending signals against different types of materials
- Software: saving all picture data on Raspberry Pi to possibly upload to a social media interface
- User Safety: ensure fire safety from electrical system
- Privacy Considerations: In order for our system to work properly, we will need to take a picture of the person by optimizing camera angle. Given that it is surveillance of our own property, privacy of thieves will not be compromised.
- Operation Costs: Our operation does not cost us anything except time, but we enjoy what we do
Budget
- One: 8 MegaPixel Camera for Raspberry Pi: $25.00 + 7.99 (Shipping Charges) [1]
- One: IRIS 32 Quart Stacking Drawer, Black $17.99 (Amazon Prime = Free Shipping) [2]
- One: Dark Stuff Teddy Bear (Amazon Prime = Free Shipping) $24.99 [3]
- Wires, Calbes, Electrical Tape, Soldering Iron (Lab)
- One: Raspberry Pi & Breadboard (Lab)
- Two: Ranging HC-SR04 Detector Sensors for Raspberry Pi: (Lab)
Total Budget: $75.97
Weekly Logs
- Week 1: This week we focused on the design of our enclosure and we agreed that the best set up is a V-shaped entrance so that the critter can enter from a wide angle and not feel trapped in the process. Also, we spent time between classes observing the behavior of squirrels and how close we can get to them without them running away. We found that if food is provided to the animal, they are more than happy to consume starch products and nuts. Specifically, the Eastern Gray Squirrel prevalent on the WashU campus like to consume walnuts even though we have spotted them "dumpster diving" in outdoor trash cans and eating whatever they can find. We also found a project that is very similar to us on google, except the inventors were targeting birds. Here is the link to their project.
- Week 2: This week we changed our project idea to comply with Washington U. regulations regarding animals. We spent the week planning out our entire project timeline (outlined in our Gantt Chart) and finalizing (pending approval) our design/ set-up. We immediately want to order our supplies and stay on schedule with our timeline. (Our new project idea is to capture thieves redhanded. Every time you open the drawer, a sensor will be triggered that calls upon a hidden camera to snap a photo of the thief. Our plan is to insert this hidden camera inside a teddy bear sitting on top of the drawer. We feel the teddy bear will hide the electrical wires and cameras discretely.)
