TAMU Laundry @ The Commons

As a Commons resident, have you tried doing your laundry only to go and learn the machines are taken? This project will allow you to review which machines are in use, for how long, and which are free.

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Inspiration

The main inspiration came from our annoyance of not knowing which washers/dryers were in use and which were available unless we manually checked ourselves.

What it does

This web app allows users to select a machine and claim it for a cycle so that other users can see that the machine is taken for one cycle(1 hour).

How we built it

We used HTML/CSS/JS for the frontend, displaying the UI where users can select and claim machines, and we used Node.js/Express.js/MongoDB for the backend where machine availability data and user information was managed and updated.

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge of this project is that the backend caused many issues when attempting to host real-time updates.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

While troubleshooting the real-time updates to the server, we spent a lot of time trying to resolve unfamiliar problems, and in turn, got valuable experience debugging new issues.

What we learned

We learned from this project just how chaotic it is to manage live server updates in terms of updating the databases, adding entries, etc.

What's next for TAMU Laundry @ The Commons

We would like to add new features such as text notifications for a machine you have claimed, placing restrictions on how many machines can be claimed by one user, improved UI/UX, and more.

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