ToasterIO

The end product
The whole thing prior to packing the Pi, control board, and power supply into the housing box.
The motor setup built by Lumbini to pull the plunger down
The inside of the toaster.
The custom control board built by Denver. It includes breakouts for all modes on the toaster and the H-Bridge motor controller circuit.
Everything roughly put together.
The Raspberry Pi setup during debugging. The HDMI and USB devices were removed in the end product.

Inspiration

Univac, Apollo 11, Memes, Hydrogen Fusion, and more. This project started as a joke, but we ended up putting a good bit of effort into it in the end.

What it does

The project connects an Alexa Dot to a Raspberry Pi enabled toaster to remotely engage a toaster and make toast. Users can say "Alexa, tell my toaster to make my toast light/medium/dark in fifteen minutes" and she will respond to the request. The toaster will engage and in a couple minutes, the user will have delicious toast.

How I built it

We built it with an Amazon Dot, Raspberry Pi, toaster, DC motor, custom made circuits, and a good bit of programming in Python and Bash.

Challenges I ran into

Alexa is still in early stages and has a lot of limitations. We had some mechanical challenges regarding engaging the solenoid in the toaster and being able to fit the DC motor inside of the chassis. Insulation also posed a problem. Reverse engineering the control board inside of the toaster was interesting to say the least. We had a lot of trouble with the mechanism to pull down the plunger.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

It actually works. We made a hackathon project that actually works.

What I learned

We learned a ton about AWS, Alexa development, H-Bridge circuits, motors, mechanical design, and the importance of a well rounded team.

What's next for ToasterIO

Probably nothing. But maybe we'll form a startup and start finding Series A funding. Hit us up. We might start controlling toilets next.

Built With

alexa
amazon-dot
amazon-web-services
bread
dc-motor
flask
psu
python
raspberry-pi
toast
toaster

Submitted to

Hack@WPI 2017
- Winner Grand prize

Created by

I worked on all of the software for this project. I worked on the Alexa skill, creating the interface between AWS and the Raspberry Pi, writing the script to control the motor and toaster, and anything else that was software related.

Jacob Hackett
I worked on reverse engineering the toasters power control board, designing an interface board between the Raspberry Pi and the toaster's control board. I also helped package the final project into the electrical box.

Denver Cohen
I worked on the circuit design for converting the 5V signal to 3.3V signal for use in the interface board between the Raspberry Pi and the toaster. I also assisted in brainstorming solutions for the mechanical design, as well as made the presentation of the system.

Michael Inserra
Senior Electrical and Computer Engineering Major Focused in the design and implementation of RF Systems, Radar, Analog Design, and Signals.
I mainly worked on the mechanical pulley system that helped engage the circuit. This used a DC motor and some engineering techniques to mount it to the existing toaster structure. I also worked on the motor circuit and packaging the final product.

Lumbini Parnas
Calvin Figuereo-Supraner

Updates

Jacob Hackett started this project — Jan 15, 2017 12:44 AM EST

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