Inspiration 💡

In the chaos of midterm season during our first year of university, we’ve noticed a decline in motivation in ourselves and our peers at a time where it is most crucial to stay focused and locked in. In a degree where working on our laptops isn't a question, the urge to open a web browser game, or scroll reels is (well) real. We needed a way to lock our browser windows that made us even less productive than we already were. That’s why we decided to create Locked Out for the times when you are most locked out.

What it does 💻

Locked Out locks browser websites such as Instagram, YouTube, and Web Games, so the user is physically unable to open the website instead have to focus on the dreaded paper that is due next week. To unlock the website, we created a game designed to rage bait the user to the point that the upcoming midterm doesn't sound as bad. Get through the maze in less than 10 seconds and stay as locked out as you want. But fail, and keep locking in for as long as you are locked out.

How we built it 👷‍♀️

Using an Arduino as the primary component to our design, we created a maze using the LED matrix and used a joystick and breadboard to be able to code a character to guide through. The web locking component was created through the use of a Google Chrome extension.

Challenges we ran into 🎯

Early into the build, we ran into challenges with our LCD screen being unable to print, as well as having to overlay the maze with a guidable, blinking character. This set us back a lot, but we were able to pivot and get the main component to work. Instead of the LCD we switched to a buzzer to notify the user of their failure/victory. It was also difficult to be able to link the hardware component to the web locking component.

Accomplishments that we're proud of 🎉

As all of us are relatively new to hackathons, being able to complete a final project is a huge accomplishment. It is certainly not perfect, but as a proof of concept, we are proud that our project is able to conduct what we had originally aimed for it to do.

What we learned 🤔

We learned a lot about using hardware while constructing this project. It was fun to get to use Arduino and learn more about what we can use with it.

What's next for Locked Out 🔒

We'd like to add more components to the project, like trying to implement the LCD or digit display for a count down and added pressure when completing the maze. Additionally, having the maze be able to randomize for each attempt would