The Drawer Alarm

 

1. Contextual Challenge (the problem that needs solving)

 

Your siblings keep going into your drawers in your room and taking your belongings. This is causing anxiety and stress. You will need to develop a system to notify you when this is happening so that you are able to prevent it.

2. Specification (the list of criteria than needs to be completed to solve the problem)

Must

Should

Could
Produce an audible sound to notify the user from anywhere in the house Use minimal battery power so it is able to run for significant lengths of time. Be be housed in your own bespoke housing design.
Use an LED to indicate the drawer alarm is ready. Give the user a reasonable length of time to place in the drawer and close it. The housing design could be personalised to match the theme of the room it is placed in.
Use an LED to indicate when the drawer alarm is armed.    
Have a system of arming and disarming to prevent the alarm going off unnecessarily.    
Detect light levels using an LDR to monitor if the drawer has been opened.    
 Soldered together using the appropriate PCB.    

3. Researching Drawer Alarms

Learn It

  • In this project you are going to design and build an alarm.
  • The alarm will respond to light levels in its environment and will sound if it detects a change.
  • This means the alarm could be placed in a drawer, jewellery box or cupboard and if they are opened it will sound.

Research It

  • Conduct some research to see if there are any similar alarms already available on the market.
  • The alarm needs to meet the following criteria
    1. Responds to changes in light
    2. Responds with audibly (a buzzer for instance)
    3. Responds with visually (lights for instance)
    4. Has the ability to be armed and disarmed.

Badge It - Silver

  • Firstly, create your own version of the table below in Word or Excel, then use your research from the criteria above to fill in the table below.