Sociobot

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  The box without phones and timer has just started.

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  The owner of the phone on the left has 40 seconds left. The right owner has run out of time!

Inspiration

Whenever our friends and I hang out, the conversations are usually stilted by people paying more attention to their phones than the people around them. However, we can't just take everyone's phone away so we built this phone "jail" that allows users to use their phones for only a set amount of time.

What it does

Users set the total phone usage time for the event and a "punishment". Whenever you take your phone out of the box, the timer ticks down, and when you put your phone back, the timer stops, ensuring you can only use your phone for a certain total amount of time that event. If you run out of time, you are subject to whatever punishment you guys agreed upon!

How we built it

Arduino! And lots of cardboard and duct tape.

Challenges we ran into

Battery running out of power. No solder to raise button, LEDs or LCD out of breadboard. Buzzer wasn't loud enough. Fried two LEDs.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Finessing that reset button out of the box. Wiring everything together.

What we learned

How to use a breadboard! And wiring a lot.

What's next for Sociobot

More phone slots! Raising LED and display out of box.

Built With

• arduino