[Mário] sent us a tip outlining the gain access to manage system he as well as his good friends developed for the eLab Hackerspace in Faro, Portugal. The area is found in the university of Algarve’s Institute of Engineering, which meant the group couldn’t precisely bore some holes with school residential property as well as needed a clever solution to provide 24/7 gain access to to members.
[Mário] quickly ruled out more advanced Bluetooth or NFC options, since he didn’t want to leave out members who did not have a smartphone. Instead, after rummaging around in some junk boxes, the gang settled on hacking an old Siemens C55 phone to serve as a GSM modem as well as to get phone calls from members. The incoming numbers are then compared against a listing on the EEPROM of an connected PIC16F88 microcontroller, which directs a motor salvaged from a tobacco vending machine to open the push bar on the front door. They had to set up the motor to move an arm in a movement similar to that of a piston, therefore providing the right leverage to both unlock as well as reset the bar’s position.
Check out [Mário’s] blog for more details as well as info on exactly how they upload a log of callers to Google spreadsheets, as well as stick around for a quick video presentation below. If you’d prefer a more step by step guide to the build, head over to the accompanying Instructables page. just be cautious if you try to reproduce this hack with the Arduino GSM shield.
