There’s an old saying that the only two things that are certain are death and taxes. However, unless you live in a nudist colony, there’s probably also laundry. [Darpan Bajaj] and some friends were at a hackathon and decided to put their washing machine on the Internet.
Most of us here at Hackaday — and many Hackaday readers, judging by the comments — are a little suspicious about how much we really need everything attached to the Internet. However, a washing machine is probably not a bad idea: you use it often, you need to know when it is done, and you probably don’t want to just sit and watch it spin. Besides, the intended installation is in a hostel where there are multiple machines and many potential users.
The system has two main sensors: an ultrasonic sensor to determine the water level and a vibration sensor to determine if the machine is operating. This has pros and cons. It seems like it would be cleaner and less error prone to directly attach into the washer’s electronics. However, using the sensors means the device could probably be made to work with any washer. Naturally, the brains are an Arduino along with a the Bolt IoT platform.
A web interface shows which of several machines are free. You can see a video about the system, below. We recently collected a lot of laundry projects, if that’s your thing. Plus, don’t forget the worst part of doing laundry: the folding.
Filed under: Android Hacks, internet hacks
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