Sometimes you don't want your little kids to go outside of your house by themselves or get into a room which has potential danger like your workarea without your knowledge. Here KidGuard can help to alert you if such a situation occurs using Walabot and Alexa.
How does it work? When a target, who is a kid approaching a safeguarded area, opens the door (detected with door switch). The alarm (buzzer) will go off because a kid is shorter than an adult (using Walabot to track the target's Y value). Then what is the role of Alexa? Alexa will be used here to turn on or off the KidGuard system. The buzzer will go off only if the KidGuard system is activated and there is a violation (kid opens the door).Step 1. Setup Raspberry Pi
Follow this step to get your Raspberry Pi ready.Step 2. Install Node-RED
Follow this step to install Node-RED.Step 3. Install the Arduino nodeStep 4. Install the Alexa Local
Follow this step to install the Alexa Local Node-RED module.Step 5. Setup the WalabotStep 6. Setup the Node-RED Flow
Import the Node-RED Flow (KidGuard Flow) from the code section below.
Set Global Variables
KidGuard, Buzzer and Door Switch
Print Saved Variables Helper
.Step 7. Write the Python code to get Walabot reading
Check out the Python code (KidGuardWalabot.py) from the code section below.Demo Time
Why demo #2? Because demo #1 (see below) does not tell the whole story. Demo #1 tells you how to turn on and off the KidGuard. It shows you the result when there is a violation which will cause the buzzer to sound.
Demo #2 tells what will happen when a tall target open the door (disconnect the door switch) and the buzzer will sound.
How does the KidGuard know if a target is tall or short? When the target is lower than the center of a Walabot board, it will register a y value which is less than zero (y<0). When it is a taller target, the Walabot will register a positive y value (y>0).
Walabot with short target:
Walabot with tall target:
This video demos that when the KidGuard was turned on and a tall target opened the door, the buzzer did not sound. Here I standed in from of a Walabot board and disconnect the door switch. And the buzzer did not sounded.
This is another video which demos that a short targer opened the door. In this scenerio, I squatted below the Walabot board's center to pretend as a kid. When I disconnected the door switch, the buzzer sounded and I needed to tell Alex to turn off the buzzer.
The following video shows how to activate KidGuard with Alexa by saying "Turn on KidGuard". There will be not a lot visualization in this video.
This video shows simulated demo where a violation (breaking the door switch connection) will trigger a buzzer. You will need to attend the situation by manually ask Alexa to turn off the buzzer.