Team: Kevin Gundlach, Nicolas Jones, Alton Prentice, Ben Hull
External Advisors:
Wyatt Lindsey — Senior Software Engineer
Lou Prado — CEO and Senior Electrical Engineer
Knock Alert is a system that attaches to your door, and alerts users to door knocks. Whenever someone knocks on a user’s door, that user will receive a notification on their computer screen that overlays all programs. Once a knock occurs, the desktop app displays a notification using the user’s customizations (which could be a change in the font, sound, or color), and logs it.
Knock Alert is a combination of hardware and a desktop application. The hardware links to the custom desktop application via Bluetooth. The device’s hardware is composed of an accelerometer for detecting vibrations, a microcontroller that runs and manages the embedded device, and a Bluetooth low energy shield for transmitting Bluetooth low energy data to Knock Alert’s desktop application. The hardware is designed to be as power efficient as possible. When the accelerometer detects a vibration, the hardware relays a signal to our Desktop app, built with Electron and React.
The system’s intended audience are users who like to work while wearing headphones and are prone to missing knocks, or those who are unable to hear knocks in general. It runs silently in the background (in the toolbar) as it waits for knocks to occur.