Wouldn’t it be cool that when you wake up and freshen yourself, your coffee is automatically brewing? There is no voice or text command; motion-detector sensors can do it, which is an automated process to save time. IoT Projects are known as the automation process. The Internet of Things is a device with unique IDs connected to a root network that transfers data across the web. IoT projects share data over wireless or wired networks (Bluetooth, WIFI, NFC).
Automating tedious but necessary tasks is the primary purpose of IoT projects. For an IoT project to run, it doesn’t need human interaction. DIY project makers treasure IoT projects.
Here are twelve easy but helpful IoT projects one can work on to make one’s life simple:
Sick People Calling for Help
Growing up is a curse and a blessing. We learn about the world and experience the beautiful life given to us. As we grow up and enjoy life, our parents get older daily. Moreover, old age comes with its sickness. Because of that, keeping an eye on their health is an absolute must. It is one of the most straightforward IoT Projects to work on; all you need to do is make a push-button that can call for help if constant observing is unnecessary.
Checking health conditions or pushing a button to call for help can be done using a Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth module will be connected to the home wifi or mobile Bluetooth and send a notification. It is possible to build quickly and easily.
Automation does not only solve problems; it also creates new problems. The module sending the data to the primary device might fail; the home network that the module is connected to might not work. Furthermore, the notification might not reach the receiver if the emergency contact is out of the home network. Still, a monitoring system is better than no monitoring system.
Smart Garden
Our world is dying little by little every day. Global warming, air pollution, and inefficient waste management are significant issues worldwide. One of the ways to contribute to saving our environment is gardening. However, it takes a lot of work. Watering plants, measuring moisture in the air or the soil, and measuring temperature are essentials one must keep in mind to be a gardener.
Nevertheless, DIY IoT Projects can do this necessary work very quickly and effortlessly. They are using some modules or sensors. Sensors will be connected to a home network, data such as temperature and moisture will be transferred, and the sprinkler will be controlled depending on the dataset.
Even if an intelligent garden can measure the temperature and humidity, it will not calculate other necessary variables, such as soil minerals and the environment in which the plants are growing. Because of that, it is only possible to automate some of the processes. Even if artificial intelligence like Bard AI is integrated, human interaction is needed. However, the module helps the human operator with the other necessary data.
Pet Food Feeding System
You may go out a lot, or while you are going to work, your pet is home alone. A babysitter is assigned to take care of them often. But if you are out for a short time, a babysitter is optional. No matter where you go or how long you must feed your hungry lion back at home, you are ready for the wrath of paws.
This IoT project of pet feeding systems will be your savior. You can easily make a food and water-feeding mechanism to feed those munchkins. A simple servo motor can control the door, drop the food onto a tray after the timer, or send commands from your phone to drop the food. Modern pet feeding systems are already automated. They can motion detect and drop food or drop food after a specific timer. But by building the project yourself, you have complete control of how much or when you want to feed them.
Pets are intelligent, and they can hack the system. Shaking or dropping the food container, these hungry animals can feed themselves and be more fluffy. So, build a system where the food container is high and the food drops so pets can reach them effortlessly.
Face Recognition System
Biometric securities are considered more secure than passwords or locks and keys. Moreover, biometric security makes it faster and effortless to log in. Just look at a camera or scan a finger and open sesame. Using a camera, one can easily create a face recognition system. Okay, maybe with some hitch, you must write codes and connect the camera with hardware modules to capture the footage. Later, the footage can be compared with a pre-stored image, allowing access.
Face recognition system sounds incredible in theory, but there are some severe bugs one has to consider while making one. If the camera is of top-notch quality, the photo taken might need to be more precise to compare. Now, you are locked out of your own house. Furthermore, the algorithm used to compare the image must be processed by some machine learning algorithm to recognize the image despite facial features. If that’s not the case and you grow a pimple, say bye-bye to your smartphone.
Don’t worry, even if you can’t access the smartphone. The following IoT project will help you get up early, giving you more time to think about your decision and build a better algorithm.
Smart Alarm Clock
Every phone has a clock. Why build an intelligent clock yourself? How many times do you want to check the time and end up browsing social media? No more. It projects will not let you be a slave to technology. The best part of a DIY smart clock is adding or removing any features you want. Your smartwatch will help you stop procrastinating.
For once, you can wake up without checking your phone. Wake up to a sweet melody or some rock and roll. Or randomize them; why stick to one? Just an alarm clock doesn’t sound much. If you add a heads-up display, you can write the code to show your daily tasks alongside the watch. All you need is your focused mindset and complete the daily tasks individually. But if you procrastinate well, you are doomed. You won’t be focused; your task won’t be satisfied. But do not worry. You have your custom-built smart clock, where you can have a custom button for the Pomodoro technique.
Focus on the task for only twenty-five minutes and tackle all your tasks individually. Remember to take breaks, and rest is necessary to give your best. A tiny issue in this grand plan may be building the clock itself.
Home Automation
Home automation may be one of the first reasons people get into DIY IoT projects. Turning the fan and light with the push of a button or the room lights up whenever you enter makes our comfort bubble more futuristic. Or it can be done similarly to the movies: clap your hands, and everything in the room activates. A timer can also be attached to control when to turn on or off certain things. Connecting the sensor with the thermostat and depending on the temperature, your fan’s rpm speed can increase or decrease. Or you can set a predefined temperature; the fan’s speed will change depending on that. The fan and lights often fail because of unstable electricity voltage.
No matter how well-written the project is, there is no fan and no lights, so no more automation. One needs to connect to the house’s primary electricity connection to control house electricity, which is quite dangerous if not done carefully.
Baby Monitor
Just like pets need food, kids need constant monitoring. These little devils, the more they grow up, the more curious they become. They were always touching or trying to chew the most dangerous stuff in the house. Even if you bypass the entire place, they will find something that can harm them. Hence, constant monitoring is vital. Similar to pet feeding, we will make an easy IoT project to handle monitoring. A camera will come in handy if your kid is sleeping and you are enjoying yourself in another room.
You can also build a cry-detecting audio sensor. But considering how loud they get sometimes, I doubt you will need one. If your baby is sick, you can always build a module to remind you when to take the meds. Like the pet feeding system, medicine can also be dispensed with an alarm. An important DIY project for kids may be a body temperature reader.
Back in the day, people measured heat by touching the forehead. Measuring the temperature just by connecting is never accurate. On top of that, keeping constant temperature data will help when it comes to doctors.
Smart Electricity Management
A long time ago, our phone batteries used to be fluffy from getting overcharged. An overcharged battery was hazardous because it might explode. At present, smartphones have built-in systems to stop overcharging. But the problem is batteries die faster. After some heavy usage, they can’t hold a charge anymore. There have been experiments about increasing the longevity of the battery. The result of the experiment was that the battery lasts longer if charged, only forty to eighty percent. It increases the life cycle of a battery.
Charging can be done manually, but we do not do that here. Similar to home automation IoT projects, a switch can be controlled using a module that will have the current charge percentage of the device. Depending on the percentage, the button will turn on or off and provide electricity to the device. Controlling a switch can also be used for other purposes. You may be downloading a game on your PC; when the download is completed, the module will turn off the PC. Or, if you’re mining for Bitcoin, set a timer for mining.
The possibilities are endless. Like home automation projects, one needs to proceed cautiously while working with direct high-voltage electricity.
Key Tracker
How many times have we lost our phone and asked someone to give us a call? Could we find our keys similarly? Because I kid you not, these keys have legs. You see them one moment; the next, they are banished. A simple motor or a vibrator can do the job for us. The engine will be connected to the key, and when we use our phone to look for it, it will vibrate, letting us know its location.
While using a motor, use a smaller one, or it will bulk your bulky key. The IoT project module that is connected to the key has to be made compact. Another area for improvement with the project is that if the key is on a soft surface or hidden under cushions, it will be difficult to hear the vibration. So be careful where you throw your keys.
Smart Mirror
Imagine waking up in the morning, getting out of bed, and fixing your hair. But you’re not using a regular old mirror. Oh no, imagine a Smart Mirror, which is just a mirror with a screen embedded below it! The sky’s the limit with this too. You can add a weather feature to start thinking about planning your day early in the morning. A to-do list is a great idea to add, too.
It helps to keep your mind in focus throughout the day. Install a camera and take the perfect selfies! Add some speakers to it to wake up to the chill and amazing tunes. Imagine how good a mirror like this would be when you’re working out!
Smart Wheelchair
With Tesla coming out with all these new smart cars, why not create an intelligent Wheelchair? Now, this would be one of the most helpful IoT projects. There are over 100 million wheelchair users across the globe. Imagine a wheelchair with built-in sensors that collect data on the fly!
This data could be used to record the patient’s medical data, record the patient’s posture, etc. You can even add GPS functionality, allowing the user’s family to track them on the fly if needed!
RC Car with Video
Now, here’s a fun one! Imagine a drone that’s just a remote-controlled car! RC cars come in many shapes, but what if you added a GoPro to the car and controlled it over the Internet? This one’s fun and is for the inner child inside of all of us; well, actual children will love this one, too. All you need is a remote-controlled car, a GoPro camera, a battery, a Raspberry Pi, an RC controller, and off you go!
Drive around a homemade track and imagine going through Nurburgring like a real race car driver. This is one of the more exciting and fun IoT projects!
Some Discussion
The Internet of Things is one of the fastest and most exciting ways to step into a world of tech. Kids can also join in and learn about the IoT and tech simultaneously. This will teach them problem-solving from a very early age. Nowadays, IoT projects are used everywhere, from DIY projects to industry-modified sensors. IoT devices connect using the networks. Because of that, they can receive or send data anywhere at any time. The data transfers are automated, which saves the time needed to do a similar task manually.
Every coin has two sides. IoT projects are no exception. A mass number of IoT devices connected to a similar network increases latency. Also, if one of the devices has a vulnerability, it is easy for a hacker to access the root network. This device needs maintenance, too. The whole network will fail if the setup isn’t done correctly and one machine fails. Maintaining a massive number of IoT devices will be challenging.
Ending Words
On top of that, if there is a bug in one, all the other devices connected to the device will be bugged. And if there are several devices, finding the source is challenging. IoT modules or sensors have different manufacturers and some DIY projects. Because of that, it’s difficult for devices to communicate with each other.
In the end, IoT projects have their perks. Similarity with puzzle-solving is what makes them attractive in the first place. And puzzle-solving is always fun. The brainstorming behind puzzles and solving something that seemed impossible at the very beginning makes them addicting. If you do any of the projects, let us know, and remember to share them with friends who need them.