Shelly Bike Guard Musical Bike Alarm

System Level Remote Bicycle Alarm IFTTT Workflow

Inspiration

My friend has had two bikes stolen... And FIU recently released an article regarding increasing theft as students return from the pandemic (particularly bicycles). (Not that the pandemic ended... It's still here...) Anyways, I just want to help keep college campuses safe. The tech I'm using can be expanded with campus-wide LoRa connectivity, and can easily and cheaply provide students with an easy way to keep track of their belongings while away. For this project, I focused on bicycles, but in reality, this can easily fit in a book bag or purse.

What it does

1) This is to remotely detect a possible bicycle theft, upon detection the Android phone volume will be raised to maximum volume. Regardless of whether the phone is on silent or on "do not disturb".

2) Shelly the robotic turtle will call you loudly to warn you with the following message: "Hello! I am Shelly your creepy robotic turtle bicycle guard. Your bicycle is in danger. Have a wonderful day". (The only robot call that's not about your vehicle's extended warranty.)

3) Amazon Echo will receive a notification with a timestamp, will beep once, and glow.

4) Additionally, Spotify will automatically launch when the phone is unlocked, and a song will play as a backup warning (in case you somehow missed all other warnings).

How we built it

IFTTT Applets + Arduino + ESP8266 + Adafruit lis3dh + 9V battery + Time + Patience + No Sleep + debugging + settings(this is an understatement)

Please see Github for details.

Challenges we ran into

IFTTT Applets didn't work as expected and different combinations had to be used to achieve the desired result. The combinations ranged from the different Applet applications themselves to the different available apps on the cellphone (not all worked) ... And finally to the constant manipulation of the android settings. There were so many settings to set and unset...

Accomplishments that we're proud of

This works well... extremely well. Exceeded expectations. This project is at a point that if were to alter the electronics so that the system lasts a minimum of 12 hours (a relatively easy goal to accomplish) before a recharge is necessary, it becomes feasible. Combine that with a LoRa transceiver + gateway, and implement it into a bicycle U-lock and we're good to go at a basic DIY level.

What we learned

IFTTT Applet Implementation
Reliable network connection of microcontrollers
An android phone's settings have settings and those settings have settings, and if you tap on a specific icon 7 times you enter developer settings... which is a whole other set of settings. Do you feel what I'm setting?

What's next for Shelly Bike Guard Musical Bike Alarm

Reduce Form factor
Include with a bicycle U-lock
Replace IFTTT with a custom standalone mobile application compatible with android and iOS systems
Use of an ESP32 instead of ESP8266 for Bluetooth access as well as WiFi
Improve power electronics and get rid of development board in favor of barebones esp32 board for battery longevity
RFM95W LoRa transceiver for ESP32
Utilize LoRa gateway to communicate with a sensor instead of relying solely on a wifi router connection
Communicate with universities in order to establish LoRa gateways on campus as a common practice Note: LoRa stands for Long Range and can provide network connectivity of up to 3 miles in urban areas and 10 miles in rural areas.