Thing Dispenser
This is not an easy project, but i believe it is doable (?). This project will create a physical device that will dispense a "thing" (dog treat or dry erase marker) when a txt message is sent to a phone number. The physical device contains a Raspberry Pi micro-computer.
This project was described in the March 2018 MAKE magazine (MAKEzine), here
To get started, I found the following video to be useful; if this physical device is going to respond to a txt message, then there must be some link between the act of sending the txt and the dispensing of the thing. In the following video, a basic description of something called an API (Application Programming Interface) is presented here
In this above video, the analogy of a restaurant is presented. As you sit at a table, you need to send information (your order) to the kitchen to get food. The "API" is the waitperson.
- STEP 1...you tell the waitperson what you want to order,
- STEP 2...the waitperson goes to the kitchen and tells to cook what to prepare, then
- STEP 3...the waitperson then brings you your food.
Similarly, as i sit at my work desk, and i want a device to do something (like dispense a treat to my dog) the API controls the communications between me and the device...
- STEP 1...I send a txt to the device,
- STEP 2...the device executes the command, and then
- STEP 3...the device sends a txt back to me indicating the commend has bee executed.
Okay...let me just present a few other details...
- 1) First off, you need to have a phone number which can receive a txt message which is ultimately connected to the device. This is done by setting up an account with a online company called Twilio. Getting a phone number is relatively easy...a trail Twilio account give you a credit of $15 to spend before you need to connect a credit card to the account.
- 2) You will need to build a device. In the original article a Raspberry Pi is connected to an Arduino board, which is in turn connected to a servo motor to actuate the dispensing. This is actually the easiest part of the project.
- 3) Software...ouch...more later.