PocketLab

Inspiration

Our group wanted to create a hardware project that also integrated AI and a frontend interface, so we decided that creating an interactive, all in one, easy to use lab kit would be a fun idea for the education track.

What it does

PocketLab is a real-time sensor data platform that transforms ESP32 microcontrollers into powerful educational tools for hands-on science experiments. Our system collects live data from IMU sensors, environmental sensors, and ultrasonic sensors, then streams it through a FastAPI backend to a React frontend with interactive 3D visualizations and time-series graphs. Students can run guided experiments across Physics, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Biology, with step-by-step instructions and real-time data analysis. The platform leverages Google's Gemini API for experiment summaries and advanced data filtering such as spike removal algorithms. PocketLab bridges the gap between theoretical learning and practical experimentation, making science education more engaging and data-driven.

How we built it

We built the frontend with React and TypeScript, server with FastAPI, and Arduino/c++ for the ESP32 firmware. The ESP32 collects data from IMU, environmental, and ultrasonic sensors, sending it via HTTP to our Supabase database where it is then broadcasted through WebSockets to the frontend. This frontend website features a dashboard with live time-series graphs using Recharts, interactive 3D visualizations with Three.js that mirror gyroscope movements, and a guided experiment system with pre-built templates for Physics, Chemistry, and Environmental Science.

Challenges we ran into

For the ESP32, a challenge we ran into was that we're unable to connect to Rutgers' wifi due to security constraints. Thus, the data would not send even when everything was properly configured. We overcame this by simply connecting to another network that didn't have the same constraints -- although a wifi hotspot did not work.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we were able to integrate hardware with a full stack website and that we were able to include AI with our project too as that was our initial goal.

What we learned

Each one of our team members came in with a different skill set and none of us have ever made a project like this so it was a great learning experience for how the frontend, backend, and ESP32 all connected together.