Re:Lockitron: $500K of Reservations in One Day
by bwooce on Thursday October 04, 2012 @09:42AM
(#4612221)
Nice, if you put an IR sensor on both sides then you can easily bias it (and not do anything if both are active - manual unlock is fine in that case)
Sunlight will be an issue though...maybe IR and ultrasonic?
This could be an added incentive for customers to purchase your hardware for both their front and back doors. Then they've got two radios.
In two-door installations, it may be possible to look at the signal strength as received at the back door to tell when the user is inside the house. That could get you out of the time-of-arrival calculation business.
Another possibility is a small, cheap IR sensor. If there's a person inside the house within ~10 feet of the door, it doesn't unlock automatically. The basic idea would be similar to the sensors on toilets and urinals in public restrooms.
In any case I'm glad to hear that my Tom Swift amulet is finally being made. Next up, the Triphibian Atomicar!