RFID control concept

posted Dec 26th 2009 10:00am by Mike Szczys
filed under: classic hacks, misc hacks

That’s not a smoke detector, it’s an RFID detecting puck. [Eric] and [Brent] have been working on this concept to produce a virtual knob. When the device detects an RFID tag it vibrates, then the puck can be turned like a virtual knob, an accelerometer picking up the motion data. The build is rounded out with a XBee module for connectivity and housed in a printed case.

The video after the break shows the device controlling colored lights. There is a different tag for each color and when the reader is over one of them the puck can be rotated to turn brightness up or down. We foresee a lot of great uses for this. Turn it into a thermostat for public places by adding a character display to the mix. A tag can be affixed to a wall, when you want to change the thermostat setting just hold the puck over the tag and turn until the screen displays the desired temperature.

Comments [3]

tagged: accelerometer, puck, rfid, xbee

3 Responses to RFID control concept

SheeEttin says:

December 26, 2009 at 12:33 pm

Hmm… Combine this with those RFID door-unlockers and put the guts in a doorknob, and you’ve got a removable doorknob!
How cool would that be?

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Izulien says:

December 26, 2009 at 8:10 pm

Very awesome indeed… I was definately thinking about using this on a door. It would be even better to add this to a lock on your fridge or something :P No more stealing of your hard earned drinks.

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smilr says:

December 27, 2009 at 1:37 am

I never really caught on to the idea of these sort of systems where physical tokens permit access to features.

The puck has to be able to specify back to the control system which light / room you are adjusting, so everything you need is already in the puck. If you put in a switch or menu on the puck to choose a channel, then you don’t need to be tied down to wherever the rfid tags are located. It becomes a true remote control and GAINS functionality compared to a permanently affixed wall thermostat or light control board.

But the system as depicted gains very little over a permanently located controller. If the tags are in one place, you still have to go THERE with the puck to change anything. Then you have to feed the puck batteries, whereas a permanent control box / board in that location could be wired up to power and maintenance free. If the rfid tags are near each light, or in each room – you now have to take the ‘key’ (puck) with you to each one in order to adjust it, and cannot make local adjustments without first finding where you left your key/puck.

This really only brings two possible advantages over dedicated systems: One is that one can apply the same interface (puck) to multiple systems – one puck, interfaced with the requisite computers / control systems – could open doors, operate windows, hvac systems, lighting systems etc. Just put a universal “put your puck here” marking over the rfid tags on EVERYTHING in your home and just carry the puck around. Which ties into the second advantage, is that it truly becomes a key. If everything has the rfid->puck->computer interface as the ONLY control point, someone without a puck can’t screw with your settings.

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