Unpluggd

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Inspiration

While trying to come up with hackathon ideas, we found amongst ourselves that we couldn't stay off of our phones at all. Eventually, our collective annoyance at our own self-control got us thinking about how we could impose a restriction on our cellular device use, and incentivize ourselves to actually restrict ourselves so that we could be productive.

What it does

Unpluggd is a device that helps you go head-to-head against someone in a battle to see who can stay off their phone for the longest amount of time. Both users can put their phones into the device and then start the game. Once the game is started, the doors on the device close, locking the phones into their respective "jail cells". From there, a stopwatch times how long each phone is present in the box. When one user must reach for their device, they press the button on top, and the timer for their cell stops.

How we built it

We utilized an Arduino Uno as the brains of the operation and connected it to 2 servos that control each cell door. Alongside this is a liquid crystal display that shows the stopwatch and user interface for the device. Buttons are connected to the tops of each "cell" that let people interface with the device. The actual "cells" themselves are made of laser-cut wood pieces.

What's next for Unpluggd

Create a public leaderboard to help you rank your "disconnectedness" against your city, country, and the world at large
Allow more options for customizing the time to lock into the cell, and what statistics to display regarding which users have the most time with their phone spent in the device