Inspiration
When your body is ready to release waste and your only options are the woods or the porta-potty, you might choose the woods if the porta-potty is dirty enough. Generally known for their bad reputation of having nasty, unpleasant sanitary conditions, porta-potties aren't exactly the optimal choice when you want to comfortably initiate bowel movements. With Porta Potty Patrol, however, the discomfort of porta-potties will be no more!
What it does
Identifies which porta-potties are in need of maintenance and will notify management. By keeping track of the frequencies of toilet lids being lifted and immediately closed, Porta-Potty Patrol is able to determine which porta-potties are in dire need of cleaning.
How We built it
The front end was built with reactJS and sass. The back end was made with Python, Flask, and SQLite. We created an improvised toilet using a crate with cardboard as the lid. An accelerometer was attached to the lid to detect the opening and closing of the lid. A lot of duct tape was used to put everything together too.
Challenges We ran into
We ran into a lot of trouble dealing with the server. There were issues accessing the server but before that there was also trouble getting it up and running too. On the physical side, mounting the Arduino was difficult with the spring being hooked on first. We also had to take care of the Arduino, making sure it wouldn't fall off as the lid is shut with a bit of force.
Accomplishments that We're proud of
It's really amazing that we were able to come together and hash out a ton of code and string it all together within just the short duration of a weekend. Porta Potty Patrol is a great system that has the potential to play a major role in cleaning porta-potties all across America.
What We learned
Although all of us were met with challenges, we were able to overcome them and enjoyed doing so in the process. We learned more about the ins and outs of the various technologies that we applied to this project and that you really can get tired of pizza.
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