People are always losing stuff they need, so I thought, "Why not create a device to make finding lost things easier?"

The device we built is a pair of "locators." Each one lights up and plays a sound when a button on the opposite device is pressed.

The main component for this project was the Particle Photon, a circuit board that contains a built-in wifi chip. Using the Particle.io website, I programed the locators to send and receive signals from each other while Jadon built a 3d-printed casing for the devices.

The biggest challenges for this project were the casing and the programing. I hadn't known how to program prior to this hackathon, so I had to figure out how to program the devices to work the way I wanted. The first case we designed was too big, and the holes for the button, light, and speaker were not lined up correctly. We ended up redesigning the case to better fit and accommodate the components.

We are proud to have a working device at all. Neither of us fully knew what we were doing or how things would turn out, but we persevered and, at the very least, the device works how it is supposed to.

I learned a new programing language, and my both of us learned how difficult it can be to create a proper digital shell for a device. We also learned the importance of accurate measurements.

If we could do it over again, we would spend more time of the casing for the device and measuring things out more accurately.

Built With

  • partice-photon
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