2018-2019

The Porter system is embedded within a door and therefore could be located in any professor or advisor’s office door frame. As a metaphor, our system can be thought of like an answering machine, or more specifically, a smart answering machine.

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The main goal of our design is to improve communication between students and professors/advisors. We aim to do this by providing a method for students to contact their professors/advisors when they are absent or busy and not in their office while also giving the professor/advisor a chance to convey their schedule to a student. 

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If a professor/advisor is leaving their office, they activate the Porter system. When a student knocks, Porter begins communicating with them via the door by informing them that their professor is busy and instructing them how to leave a message (or not offering them an option to leave a message if the professor chooses)

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How it works:

Our prototype will be controlled by a Raspberry Pi running a Python script that will manage the interaction. It will have an array of piezo sensors to detect knocks, a pair of tactile transducer speakers powered by a T-amp, a microphone to record the message, also a LED pixel light that is directly connected to the Raspberry Pi to provide feedback for the user.

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