IOU management for roommate chores

[Chris] shares a dorm room with five other people. When living with others its important to stay on top of cleaning and to do so equitably the sextuplet came up with a well-planned whiteboard of chores. The problem lies in getting everyone to do theirs in a timely manner. To help facilitate this, [Chris] came up with a system that Read the rest

Keypad door lock, better than last years keyfob?

It’s that time of the year again. The leaves are changing colors, it’s getting colder outside, and all the littler hackers are off to college. Which means we get to see an influx of dorm room locks and openers.

[Adam] is back at it again with a new keypad dorm room lock. Last year he had an exceptional setup … Read the rest

Rhythmic combo-lock

[MusashiAharon's] dorm room door was practically begging to be hacked. There was already an electronic strike plate in place as well as junction boxes on the inside and out that were connected by conduit. Jumping on the bandwagon after seeing some other door lock hacks here, he built one that uses a rhythmic combination.

The control panel on the … Read the rest

Add a key-fob opener to your door

key-fob-door-opener

It seems like creating an automatic dorm room door opener is a rite-of-geek-passage each fall. [Adam], a student at Vassar, passed with flying colors by creating this clean setup. We’ve got video, more pictures, and a description after the break.… Read the rest

Automated dorm room door

[Chris] wrote in to tell us about this project he did while living in the dorms. He built a system to automate his dorm room door. It handles unlocking and opening/closing the door via iPhone, secret knock, and even the key.  The lock/knob portion is handled by a servo while the opening/closing action is hydraulic. After living with it … Read the rest

RFID dorm room door

rfid_door

[Max] sent us his dorm room RFID controlled lock. While RFID door locks are nothing new, his implementation is very slick. The entire unit is attached with suction cups to a mirror on the inside of the door. It looks like it could be removed and put elsewhere in a matter of seconds. That’s pretty slick. Much cleaner than … Read the rest